Why Minority Governments Work

Why Minority Governments Works tackles central questions: how well minority parliamentary governments govern; how they build majorities; and why some perform better than others. It offers an explanatory framework to account for governing capacity that includes the design of political institutions, partisan bargaining circumstances, and the reconcilability of party goals, all in multilevel, territorial perspective. Demonstrating the framework's utility, the book examines Spain's minority governments in comparative perspective. Spain's minority governments work in part because of its complex territorial politics. In multilevel perspective, political institutions and partisan bargaining circumstances tend to strengthen the government's bargaining position. Moreover, the goals of Spain's statewide governing regional parties are often reconcilable, fostering cooperation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

Part I: The Theoretical and Contextual Terrain

2. How Well Minority Parliamentary Governments Govern

3. Accounting for Governing Capacity

4. Multilevel, Multidimensional Politics in Spain

Part II: Why Spain’s Minority Governments Work

5. Governing Capacity and Partisan Bargaining Circumstances

6. How Minority Governments Govern

7. National Parliamentary Institutions and Government Strength

8. The Reconcilability of Party Goals in the Multilevel State

9. Office for Policy in the National Arena or Peix al cove