Coalition government

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A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament. A coalition government might also be created in a time of national difficulty or crisis, for example during wartime, to give a government the high degree of perceived political legitimacy it desires whilst also playing a role in diminishing internal political strife. In such times, parties have formed all-party coalitions, often called a National Unity Government or a Grand Coalition. If a coalition collapses a confidence vote is held or a Motion of No Confidence is taken.

[edit] In practice

To deal with a situation in which no clear majorities appear through general elections, parties either form coalition cabinets, supported by a parliamentary majority, or minority cabinets which may consist of one or more parties. Cabinets based on a coalition with majority in a parliament, ideally, are more stable and long-lived than minority cabinets. While the former are prone to internal struggles, they have less reason to fear votes of non-confidence. Majority governments based on a single party are typically even more stable, as long as their majority can be maintained.

Coalition cabinets are common in countries in which a parliament is proportionally representative, with several organized political parties represented. It does not appear in countries in which the cabinet is chosen by the executive rather than by a lower house (such as in the United States). In semi-presidential systems, such as France, where the president formally appoints a prime minister but the government itself must still maintain the confidence of parliament, coalition governments occur quite regularly.

Countries which often operate with coalition cabinets include: the Nordic countries, the Benelux countries, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Israel and India. Switzerland has been ruled by a loose coalition of the four strongest parties in parliament since 1959, called the "Magic Formula".

In Germany, for instance, coalition government is the norm, as it is rare for either the CDU/CSU or SPD to win an unqualified majority in a national election. Thus, at the federal level, governments are formed with at least one of the smaller parties. For example, Helmut Kohl's CDU governed for years in coalition with the FDP and from 1998 to 2005, Gerhard Schröder's SPD was in power with the Greens. A similar situation exists in Israel with its dozens of different parties. The centre-right, Likud, thus forms coalitions with far-right and orthodox groups, while Labour allies itself with the more leftist and pacifist parties. In both countries, grand coalitions of the two large parties also occur, but these are rare and large parties usually prefer to associate with small ones. However, if none of the larger parties can receive enough votes to form their preferred coalition, a grand coalition might be their only choice for forming a government. This is the current situation in Germany: in early elections, the CDU/CSU did not garner enough votes to form a majority coalition with the FDP; similarly the SPD and Greens did not have enough votes to continue on with their formerly ruling coalition. A grand coalition government was subsequently forged between the CDU/CSU and the SPD. Partnerships like these typically involve carefully structured cabinets. The CDU/CSU ended up holding the Chancellory while, the SPD took the majority of cabinet posts.

A coalition government may consist of any number of parties. In Germany, the coalitions rarely consist of more than two parties (where CDU and CSU, two non-competing parties which always form a single caucus, are in this regard considered a single party), while in Belgium, where there are separate Dutch and French parties for each political grouping, coalition cabinets of up to six parties are quite common. India's presently governing coalition, the United Progressive Alliance, consists of fourteen separate parties. Finland has experienced its most stable government since independence with a five-party governing coalition established during the 1990s. Japan is experiencing coalition governments since 1990s, which came into existence in 1993 after the defeat of Liberal Democratic Party, and it is present till today.

In Australia, the conservative Liberal and National parties are united in an effectively permanent coalition. This coalition has become so stable, at least at the federal level, that Australia, in effect, has become a two-party system.

In the United Kingdom, coalition governments (known as National Governments) have since 1915 only been appointed in times of national crisis. The most prominent was the National Government of 1931-1940. In other circumstances, when no party has found themselves in possession of a majority, minority governments have been the rule. However, the devolved government in Scotland is run by a coalition of Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, as Labour does not itself possess a majority in the Scottish Parliament.

[edit] Arguments for and against coalition government

Advocates of proportional representation suggest that a coalition government leads to more consensus-based politics, in that a government comprising differing parties (often based on different ideologies) would need to concur in regard to governmental policy. Another stated advantage is that a coalition government better reflects the popular opinion of the electorate within a country.

Those who disapprove of coalition governments believe that such governments have a tendency to be fractious and prone to disharmony. This is because coalitions would necessarily include different parties with differing beliefs and who, therefore, may not always agree on the correct path for governmental policy. Sometimes the results of an election are such that the coalitions which are mathematically most probable are ideologically infeasible, such as in Flanders or Northern Ireland. A second difficulty might be the ability of minor parties to play "kingmaker" and particularly, in close elections, gain far more for their support than their vote would otherwise indicate.