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Parliamentary cabinets are supposed to be collective bodies, taking their decisions on the basis of agreements among all the members. Yet much has been made of the growth of the role of prime ministers, not just in Britain, but all over western Europe. Much has also been made of the trend towards letting cabinet decisions be taken by committees or even by individual ministers. It is indeed true that twenty men and women, meeting only a few hours a week, cannot take all the decisions of the State. These are the issues which this study examines, on the basis of the replies of over 400 cabinet ministers across western Europe. The result is the first truly empirical analysis in a subject on which what has been known so far has tended to be speculation.
The first volume in a series of comparative studies within the ESRC's Whitehall Programme focuses on core executives in five parliamentary democracies comparing the Westminster model as in Australia, Canada and Britain with the continental democracies of Germany and the Netherlands showing how political leadership is shackled by a vast array of constraints, from globalisation to internal fragmentation and rationalisation, making a heroic model of decisive political leadership hard to sustain.
This comprehensive Handbook presents a broad range of theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives on the comparative study of political institutions. Exploring cutting-edge developments in the field, it provides new insight into the significant diversity and impact of political institutions across space and time. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.
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.
Over the early 21st century, democracy worldwide has deteriorated significantly. At the same time, new populist forces have appeared that challenge democracies through legal reforms. The stark contrast between Eastern and Western Europe in this respect is the focus of this collection of essays. The authors consider the 2008-2012 economic crisis to be at the root of the success of the populist parties and the rise of cultural backlash against liberal values. In turn, European governments’ responses to the crisis—mainly austerity measures demanded by IMF and the EU— help explain desenchantment with the European Union. These policies made the wider public feel that they were being left ou...
Political leadership has returned to the forefront of research in political science in recent years, after several years of neglect. This Handbook provides a broad-ranging and cohesive examination of the study of political leadership.
Making a significant, novel contribution to the burgeoning international literature on the topic, this Handbook charts the various methodological, theoretical, comparative and empirical dimensions of a future research agenda on ministerial and political advisers.
A close examination of the constitutional relationship between legislature and executive in parliamentary regimes.
At a time when political representation can be said to be facing its ultimate crisis, this crucial work clarifies the terms of the debate, providing an up-to date analysis of the main conceptual and institutional controversies that have arisen surrounding this topic. Written by leading scholars in the field, contributions focus on how representation is conceptualised and its relation to democracy.