A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013

Coalition politics have played a unique role in the modernsystem of governance. It played a vital role in politics forbringing the smaller political parties closer by reducing the chances ofserious conflicts. Coalitions can be governmental, which are formed afterelections, and coalitions also can be formed before elections. Like most ofthe Third World countries, Pakistan is an emerging democratic state witha multi-party setup. Present research work tried to analyze differentaspects of coalition politics since the creation of Pakistan; however, thescope of this research was restricted to the era from 2008 to 2013. Thestudy has included the concept of coalitions, the formation of coalitions,their governance, terminations, and their implications on the politics ofPakistan. In order to get pinpoint the performance of the coalition during2008-2013, primary sources, including official documents, statements,and interviews, and secondary sources like books, journals, newspapers,and websites have been consulted. Basically, it is qualitative research, butsometimes quantitative material is also utilized. To complete the research,historical, descriptive, and experimental methods were used. The studyrevealed that how coalition politics has become a backbone of democracyin Pakistan, where many parties were getting representation in thelegislative assembly. Here, the successful tenure of the PPP-led coalitiongave new hope to the political stakeholders to work together for sustainabledemocracy in Pakistan.

“Police Brutality Exposed”

This article explores the conditions for changing news media coverage of police brutality, focusing on the Chicago Tribune. Police have historically dominated news about policing, resulting in very limited coverage of wrongdoing. Following the murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark by Chicago Police officers, a racially and politically heterogenous coalition exposed the connection between police brutality and knowledge production. Activists developed a radical critique of police brutality’s role in sustaining an unequal social order and opened new possibilities for political solidarity. When longtime Chicago machine alderman Ralph Metcalfe challenged Mayor Richard J. Daley on the issue, “regular” Black Democrats came to join liberals and radicals in demanding change. The conflict generated by Metcalfe’s revolt provided both a justification and a set of questions for the Tribune’s investigative task force to engage. In a pathbreaking series of investigative reports on police brutality in 1973, the task force convincingly demonstrated the existence of widespread police brutality but also tamed its political significance with bureaucratic reform. The dilemmas of coalition politics that shaped this investigative reporting and the response to it continue to structure the choices faced by political movements seeking meaningful transformation today.

Policies, Programs and Achievements of Ghulam Nabi Azad - led Coalition in Jammu & Kashmir

The coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir during 2002 to 2008 helped build some kind of confidence in the electoral institutions and processes. Breaking the hegemony of the single dominant party also brought an alternative to the PDPCongress coalition power. PDP- Congress formed a coalition government after 2002 Assembly elections as no political party had won majority and it resulted in a fractured mandate. The coalition was significant in the sense that PDP had recently emerged as regional force, and it was its first game in elections as well as coalition politics. The coalition began very well on a good note. The coalition incorporated their election manifestoes with the basic issues which the people were facing. The PDP promised a corruption- free government, unconditional dialogue with militants, providing a healing touch and like. The present paper analyses the performance of PDP- Congress coalition led by Ghulam Nabi Azad. Keywords: Coalition, Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, PDP-Congress.

Sweden: The Rise and Fall of Bloc Politics

This chapter examines coalition formation and coalition governance in Sweden. Swedish coalition politics have historically been characterized by a near-unidimensional political conflict along the left–right policy dimension, along with minority government rule (and a high share of minority cabinets).. In addition, Swedish politics has long been characterized by ‘two-bloc politics’, where the socialist and the non-socialist bloc have competed for power. However, the growing electoral successes for the populist radical right party, the Sweden Democrats, has recently and at least temporary, ended this. Although the increasing fragmentation and polarization of Swedish politics has made bargaining over government more difficult, it has not changed how coalition cabinets work and the existing practices of coalition governance since the early 1990s remains intact. Collegiality and consensus are still the dominant characteristics of Swedish coalition governance.

Ireland: Coalition Politics in a Fragmenting Party System

Ireland is a parliamentary democracy created as a result of a revolutionary secession from the United Kingdom. While Ireland has many institutional and administrative features that are quite similar to the Westminster model, there are also some important departures, most notably the adoption of limited government via a written constitution, and the adoption of PR-STV which has facilitated the formation of coalition governments. For most of the twentieth century (up until 1989 at least) a Fianna Fáil single-party government was the default outcome of the government-formation process, though many of these cabinets were ‘large’ minority administrations. The only method of ejecting Fianna Fáil was for the second- and third-largest parties (Fine Gael and Labour) to form a coalition government, which they did on a number of occasions. The bargaining environment permanently changed in 1989 when Fianna Fáil broke the habit of a lifetime and entered its first coalition with the Progressive Democrats. Since then almost all governments have been coalitions. This chapter examines the life cycle of coalition government in Ireland: formation, governance, and dissolution. Coalition agreements have evolved over the decades and have become much more important, detailed, and hence more lengthy. The coalition programme plays a key role in the work of the cabinet and the relations between the parties. The increasingly detailed coalition agreements are a very important commitment device during the life cycle of coalition governments. The increasing fragmentation of the party system has meant that coalition formation bargaining has become more challenging.

Austria: Phasing-Out Grand Coalition Government

Grand coalition government of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP and the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) had been the hallmark of post-war Austria but the historic ‘grand coalition’ formula seems exhausted. The rationale for maintaining this cooperation vanished, electoral changes undermined the former duopoly of these parties, and party system changes brought new players into the game. Yet at the government level alternatives involving the Freedom Party (FPÖ) have proved unstable as in each case an FPÖ event brought down the government or prevented its renewal. The chapter shows how routine formateur-led processes of coalition formation resulting in anticipated outcomes contrast with a few instances which significantly deviate. Coalition governance is characterized by the use of an elaborated set of rules and instruments and great continuity over time and different types of coalition. Accordingly, the underlying principle of coalition politics has been the ‘coalition compromise’ model, with government policies to be largely agreed between the coalition partners. In practice, ministerial discretion tends to shift government policy output towards the model of ‘constrained ministerial government’. Most coalitions terminated early because of inter-party conflict.

Iceland: Political Change and Coalition Politics

The chapter surveys coalition formation and coalition governance in Iceland since the 1990s. Coalition politics have been altered in a significant manner during this time period with many of the changes coinciding with the economic crash of 2008. Up to the crises, coalition governance followed a fairly predictable pattern but increased electoral volatility and decline in party cohesion complicated the formation of stable two-party coalitions. In response to these developments, governments have sought to improve coalitions management and coordination within the cabinet, which represents a shift from the ministerial model of government that has characterized Icelandic coalitions since the founding of the republic.

Germany: From Stable Coalition Camps to New Complexity

This chapter aims at presenting the characteristics of cabinets in Germany, in particular for the cabinets formed since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The chapter covers two decades of coalition dynamics and an era that has led to significant changes in German politics in general and the German party system in particular. The electoral support for the two catch-all parties – Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) decreased in that time period, while the increased number of parliamentary parties and the increasing vote share for the smaller parties resulted in a more complex bargaining environment. We also discuss changes in the policy profiles of the parliamentary parties and how potential coalitions are discussed during election campaigns. The chapter provides first a brief overview on the institutional setting in which parties in Germany act and which influences the government-formation process, as well as the daily business of coalition governance. In a second step, we outline recent dynamics in the structure of the German party system. The final section summarizes the findings, considers if an overall trend in terms of changes in coalition governance exists in Germany, and discusses the impact of the parliamentary presence of a left- and a right-wing ‘pariah’ party—The Left and the Alternative for Germany—for coalition politics in Germany in the future.

Croatia: Strong Prime Ministers and Weak Coalitions

Since regaining its independence in 1991, Croatia experienced major transformation of constitutional and political system in 2000, when illiberal semi-presidential rule was replaced with functional parliamentary democracy. These changes also established a new pattern of executive politics, with coalition governments as a norm. Furthermore, in the post-2000 period the prime ministerial government was established as the dominant governance model, with prime ministers taking over the leading role in coalition politics. Building on this notion, this chapter identifies several major features of coalition governance in Croatia: very general and rather brief coalition agreements without written rules on cabinet decision-making and on how to resolve internal conflicts; an informal and personalized way of handling conflicts between coalition parties; the dominant position of the prime minister and limited ministerial autonomy; and the policy and personnel conflicts between coalition parties as the main reason for cabinet termination. Thus, similarly to some other countries in Central Eastern Europe region, all three stages of coalition governance in Croatia are heavily dominated by top party leaders and particularly prime ministers, thus creating the patterns of informal and personalized coalition decision-making. The prime ministerial dominance is reflected in weak coalition arrangements, with very limited coordination established between coalition parties and the lack of broader conflict resolution mechanisms, which makes coalition cabinets especially fragile and unstable, particularly when challenged by the inclusion of new parties in government.

Feminist Solidarities and Coalitional Identity: The Popular Feminism of the Marcha das Margaridas

The Marcha das Margaridas is a mass mobilization in Brazil led by women’s organizations within rural unions in alliance with other social movements and nongovernmental organizations, including transnational partners such as the World March of Women. The main political subjects are rural working women, a political identity that articulates gender, class, and urban-rural inequalities. These are foundational for the popular feminism of the Marcha. An examination of the Marcha das Margaridas guided by a theoretical discussion of poststructural feminism and postcolonial feminism on the role of political identities in building coalitions reveals that it expands the agenda of popular feminism in its relationship to historical feminist agendas and intersectional feminisms and in its coalition politics with men and the left. A Marcha das Margaridas é uma mobilização de massa no Brasil liderada por organismos de mulheres dentro de sindicatos rurais em aliança com outros movimentos sociais e organizações não governamentais (ONGs), incluindo parceiros transnacionais como a Marcha Mundial das Mulheres. Os principais sujeitos políticos são as mulheres trabalhadoras rurais, uma identidade política que articula as desigualdades de gênero, classe e urbano-rurais. Estes são fundamentais para o feminismo popular da Marcha. Um estudo da Marcha das Margaridas guiado por uma discussão teórica do feminismo pós-estrutural e do feminismo pós-colonial sobre o papel das identidades políticas na construção de coalizões revela que ela expande a agenda do feminismo popular em sua relação com agendas feministas históricas e feminismos intersetoriais, como também em sua coalizão política com os homens e a esquerda.