Coalition Governments in Western Europe is the most comprehensive empirical analysis to date of coalition politics. Based on a large cross-national data collection, covering the entire post-war period from 1945 to 1999, it is the first systematic study of institutions of governance and conflict resolution in coalition governments. The book is also an unparalleled source of information, membership, termination, and electoral performance of coalition parties. The volume also analyses the institutional frameworks in which coalition politics takes place in the individual countries and discusses which constraints for government formation, coalition governance, and colition termination result from them. The information has been collected in standardized form by first rate country experts, and is presented in the form of standard tables. Comparative Politics is a series for students and teachers of political science that deals with contemporary issues in comparative government and politics. The General Editors are Max Kaase, Professor of Political Science, Vice President and Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, International University Bremen, Germany, and Kenneth Newton, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Southampton. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research.

About the Author
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

Reviews
an impressive and meticulously researched work...a superb reference work that scholars of developed democracies will cite for years...all of the individual country chapters are expertly done, with rich attention to detail in developing comparable data * American Political Science Review *
a unique and timely contribution to the field of comparative institutional politics...The ... fine balance between methodological and empirical needs will appeal to theorists and country specialists alike...invaluable for specialist and ... sufficiently accessible for use on undergraduate and postgraduate courses * Political Studies *
This is an extraordinarily valuable book that deserves a place in any political science library and... on the shelves of anyone with a serious professional interest in the making and breaking of governments...a carefully designed and executed reference volume...three sets of tables, rigorously and carefully compiled for each country ... put together information that would take an independent researcher months if not years to assemble. Their value greatly exceeds any to be found in earlier edited collections...a resource of immense value * Party Politics *
This book will remain for many years THE information source on coalitions in Western Europe * Jean Blondel, European University Institute *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198297611
Author Wolfgang C. Muller
Format Paperback
Page Count 618
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 896g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 32mm