Coalition Governments in Western Europe

Wolfgang C. Muller is a Professor at the Department of Government, University of Vienna ; Kaare Strom is a Professor at the University of California, San Diego

• 1. Coalition Governance in Western Europe: An Introduction ; 2. Germany: Stable Parties, Chancellor Democracy and the Art of Informal Settlement ; 3. Austria: Tight Coalitions and Stable Government ; 4. Ireland: From Single-Party to Coalition Rule ; 5. Norway: A Fragile Coalitional Order ; 6. Sweden: When Minority Cabinets Are the Rule and Majority Coalitions the Exception ; 7. Denmark: The Life and Death of Government Coalitions ; 8. Finland: The Consolidation of Parliamentary Governance ; 9. Belgium: On Government Agreements, Evangelists, Followers and Heretics ; 10. The Netherlands: Still the Politics of Accommodation? ; 11. Luxembourg: Stable Coalitions in a Pivotal Party System ; 12. Italy: From "Constrained" Coalitions to Alternating Governments? ; 13. France: Forming and Maintaining Government Coalitions in the Fifth Republic ; 14. Portugal: The Rationale of Democratic Regime-Building ; 15. Conclusion: Coalition Governance in Western Europe

This is an extraordinarily valuable book that deserves a place in any political science library as well, despite its price, as on the shelves of anyone with a serious professional interest in the making and breaking of governments.