Coalition Government and Party Mandate How Coalition Agreements Constrain Ministerial Action Routledge Research on Social and Political Elites Series

Which kind of decisions are passed by Cabinet in coalition governments? What motivates ministerial action? How much leeway do coalition parties give their governmental representatives?

This book focuses on a comparative study of ministerial behaviour in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. It discredits the assumption that ministers are ?policy dictators? in their spheres of competence, and demonstrates that ministers are consistently and extensively constrained when deciding on policies. The first book in a new series at the forefront of research on social and political elites, this is an invaluable insight into the capacity and power of coalition government across Europe.

Looking at policy formation through coalition agreements and the effectiveness of such agreements, Coalition Government and Party Mandate will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, governance and European politics.

1. Introduction 2. Theorizing coalition agreements 3. Methodological choices 4. case study one: Germany (by Catherine Moury and Mark Ferguson) 5. case study two: Belgium 6. case study three: the Netherlands (by Catherine Moury and Arco Timmermans) 7. case study four: Italy 8. Coalition agreements and Cabinet decision-making in four countries 9. Explaining variation across cases: Preliminary Findings 10. Conclusion

Catherine Moury is Assistant Professor at NOVA University, Lisbon, and researcher at CIES-IUL. Her research focuses on institutional change in the European Union and on coalition governments.