210081 SE BAK13: State Activity, Policy and Governance Analyses (2024S)

Coalition governments play an important role in democratic politics. Nowadays, there is almost no single party that wins a majority of the seats in the legislature after an election. This means that two or more parties have to negotiate and form a coalition government in order to take office. The problem is, though, that these parties pursue different policy objectives which potentially creates conflicts during the legislative term. In this seminar, we will analyse the formation, governance and termination of coalition governments in Western and Eastern Europe. In the first part of the seminar, we will get to know the most important theories with regard to coalition formation and then talk about the distribution of policies and offices. Afterwards, we will analyse how coalition governments work before we discuss the reasons for coalition termination and potential consequences of coalition governments. In the last part of the seminar, we will have a closer look at special forms of coalition governments, such as minority coalitions. Knowledge of and interest in statistical analysis is helpful for students taking part in this course.