scholarly journals Timing in Opposition Party Support under Minority Government

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Müller ◽  
Pascal D. König
Keyword(s):  
Opposition Party ◽  
Minority Government ◽  
Party Support

Minderheitsregierung im Bund? Lehren zum Oppositionsverhalten aus Schweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-158
Author(s):  
Melanie Müller ◽  
Marcus Höreth
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Minority Government ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
Alternative Function ◽  
The Government ◽  
German Bundestag ◽  
Western Democracies ◽  
Opposition Parties

Government stability in the German Bundestag is traditionally tied to a parliamentary majority and an opposition minority . Nonetheless, minority governments in other Western democracies show that, despite the lack of a parliamentary majority, they govern stable and effectively together with the opposition . In this article, on the Swedish case, we examine how opposition parties in parliament are involved in the legislative process in a minority government and what patterns they follow in order to maintain governmental stability without neglecting their alternative function . The paper combines theoretical and concep­tual considerations on the adequate understanding of the opposition in the Federal Repub­lic of Germany with empirical findings on cooperation and conflicts between opposition party groups and minority governments . The results show that opposition parties strategi­cally switch between confrontational (Westminster-style) and consensual patterns of behav­ior (republican) . Through this flexible majority finding, opposition parties in parliament can alternately present themselves as policymakers or as an alternative counterpart to the government . This opposition behavior is functionally adequate under the conditions of a pluralized and fragmented party system and the resulting difficulties in forming a stable government majority .

Opposition Party Behavior and Minority Government Support

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Müller
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Oppositional Behavior ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Minority Government ◽  
Government Stability ◽  
Party Behavior ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods ◽  
Opposition Parties

Opposition parties in minority governments are partly responsible for government stability without being able to neglect their accountability to the electorate, a dilemma that, as this book shows, has many electoral as well as policy advantages for opposition parties. This book’s analysis of opposition behavior in the Swedish Riksdag (1991–2018) sheds light on the rationality of minority governments from an opposition perspective: receiving political influence without jeopardizing one's party profile. The author studies oppositional behavior in Swedish minority governments using quantitative and qualitative methods.

Support Party Strategies on Important Policy Issues: Results from Swedish Minority Governments

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Melanie Müller
Keyword(s):  
Government Support ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Policy Influence ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Minority Government ◽  
Party Strategies ◽  
The Government ◽  
Party Voting ◽  
Core Issues

Abstract The survival of minority governments depends on support from non-cabinet parties that strive to safeguard government stability while also fulfilling their accountability to the electorate. This article argues that non-cabinet parties' propensity to support the government depends on their desire to uphold distinctiveness when accountability is at stake. This even applies to opposition parties that are officially committed to minority government support and, as a trade-off, receive policy pay-offs. By analysing opposition party voting in 23 years of Swedish minority governments (1991–2018), the article suggests that ideologically distant support parties are more likely to oppose the government on their core issues since compromise would involve too-large concessions. These results question our understanding of support party pay-offs as a trade-off for minority government support and highlight the rationality of entering a support agreement, which gives the support party a certain degree of policy influence while also keeping a distinct party profile.

Eroding Support from Below: Performance in Local Government and Opposition Party Growth in South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Safia Abukar Farole
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Party Support ◽  
Opposition Parties

Abstract How does support for opposition parties grow in dominant party systems? Most scholarship on the rise of competitive elections in dominant party regimes focuses on elite defections from the ruling party and coordination by opposition parties as key explanations, but there is less focus on how politics at the local level contributes to opposition victories. This article argues that effective service delivery in local government helps opposition parties grow support in local elections. Examining the case of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in South Africa, this article provides a systematic analysis of local elections and opposition party performance. Using an original data set of electoral, census and spatial data at the lowest electoral unit in South Africa (the ward), this article shows that in the areas where it is the incumbent party, support for the DA grows as the delivery of basic services to non-white households improves, and when DA-run wards outperform the neighbouring ones run by the ruling African National Congress party, support for the DA increases in neighbouring wards. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of how local politics erode dominant party rule.

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