Government Formation as a Policy-Making Arena

The formation of governing coalitions in certain western European parliamentary democracies is also a process of formulating policy. Governments are formed in a distinguishable arena in which differences over certain kinds of policy questions are for a time resolved when a coalition of parties is ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Legislative studies quarterly 1986-11, Vol.11 (4), p.565-581
Main Authors: Peterson, Robert L., De Ridder, Martine M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Games
Government
International agreements
International politics
Organization
Parliamentary system
Policy making
Policymaking
Political identity
Political parties
Political systems
Public administration
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Summary:The formation of governing coalitions in certain western European parliamentary democracies is also a process of formulating policy. Governments are formed in a distinguishable arena in which differences over certain kinds of policy questions are for a time resolved when a coalition of parties is based on an issue-specific consensus. This essay, based on a study of the formation of Belgian governments between 1965 and 1981, presents an approach to government formation as a policy arena. The essay discusses the assumptions about coalition formation and policy making that underlie such an approach, the characteristics of the arena in which governments form, and the problem of generalizing from the Belgian case.
ISSN:0362-9805
DOI:10.2307/439934