Coalition government and party mandate ; Explaining ministerial room of manoeuvre vis-à-vis the coalition agreement

UID/CPO/04627/2013 ; In this article, I look at the dialectic between parties and government to understand the extent to which ministers are bound by the coalition agreement. I first observe that considering the coalition agreement as a contract written by the parties for the government to avoid "agency losses" is an oversimplification. In almost all cases the main ministers have participated in the negotiations, with, or as, party leaders. I also observe that the government follows to a large extent the coalition agreement in Belgium and in the Netherlands and also, although to a lesser exten... Mehr ...