This title was first published in 2003.This informative text deals with the emergence of coalition agreements, their contents, the problem of enforcement and with the question of whether or not the functions are performed in practice. It explores the idea that policy bargaining in government formation is not just an isolated process, but that it is a real chance for parties to deal with substantive and controversial issues at an early stage. The coalition agreements in which these issues are incorporated have become important in most multiparty systems, but they have received little attention in political science research. This book argues that more systematic attention for these institutional variables is highly useful in coalition research because it helps to explain processes and outcome in coalition politics.

Lecturer in Political Science and Public Policy, University of Twente, The Netherlands

Contents: Government formation and beyond: an empirical study; Bargaining, policy, and coalition agreements; Functions and effects of coalition agreements; Case studies: coalitions in Belgium and the Netherlands; The Leburton government (1973-74); The Tindemans V government (1977-78); The Van Agt II government (1981-82); The Lubbers I government (1982-86); The Kok I government (1994-98); The high politics of coalition agreements; Bibliography; Index.