Coalition Politics

This book examines the governability crisis faced by Israeli governmental institutions. For a long period of time, observers of Israel’s government have reported the same phenomena: instability in most political positions not allowing for proper policy design, enhanced control of the bureaucracy over the policy making process, and complete uncertainty regarding the implementation of policies by the bureaucracy. However, while one expects that with such a toxic combination of all the wrong policy making components Israel would collapse, Israel has been able to achieve quite impressive landmarks in its overall performance. During the first decade of the 21st century, Israel became an OECD member and enjoyed high growth when the world was facing stagnation and economic collapse. Israel’s government, which regularly faces quandaries in a variety of policy fields, is able to initiate large scale policies when needed. Yet, this same government refrains from initiating large-scale reforms in institutional structures. Hence, for analysts of political institutions, the Israeli state of affairs is one of choice: while initiating changes to reform and overhaul the Israeli institutional system is possible it is also perilous. To cope with that duality Israeli political leadership on all sides has developeda variety of mechanisms that allow them to provide the policy output needed so as to maintain the status-quo. This book examines these mechanisms as they exist in different facets of government work and explains their output and persistence. Examples include coalitional making and breaking, the ways in which ruling coalitions maneuver in parliament, and policy design and implementation. The book also explores the problem that exists in Israel’s governability: the lack of a strategic high-order far sighted decision making. Finally, it offers a method of electoral reform that can address both of these systemic maladies.

The feminist “we,” which during the first and second waves of feminist political organizing had a natural basis in “women,” became a theoretical and political problem in the late 1970s. In this study, I examine efforts to replace the earlier idea of “women” as the collective subject of feminism with more nuanced visions of the feminist “we.” I refer to these efforts, which continue right down to the present, as the “discussion on feminist political togetherness.”

While the criticism of feminist politics based on “women’s identity” has become a well-documented part of the recent history of feminist thought, the efforts to provide alternative conceptualizations of the feminist “we” remain less known. The present study gives visibility to the alternatives proposed by theorists such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Judith Butler, Adriana Cavarero, Jodi Dean, bell hooks, Maria Lugones, Chandra Mohanty, and Linda Zerilli, and suggests they can contribute to other ongoing discussions in the field of political theory about political bonds in diverse and unequal societies.

I examine the discussion of feminist political togetherness from three perspectives. First, I focus on the exact concepts used in the debate. Thus far, feminist theorists have not created new concepts for theorizing the feminist “we”; they have given new meanings to established terms, such as identity, coalition, and solidarity. Second, I turn my attention to the theoretical resources used and focus on visions of collective feminist politics based on Hannah Arendt’s concepts. Since the 1990s, Arendt’s thought has been the main theoretical resource in the discussion of feminist political togetherness and Arendtian visions of the feminist “we” form a distinct strand in this debate. Third, I discuss five themes that have persisted in this discussion for decades. Their persistence reveals that even though feminist theorists use different vocabularies and theoretical resources to address the problem of the feminist “we,” the solutions they provide are similar. Most draw attention to sustained, but open political bonds across difference and privilege, bonds that have to be actively created and maintained and that enable political action in the context of diversity and inequality.

My study suggests that the visions of the feminist “we” from the late 1970s down to the present offer an explicitly feminist understanding of political commonality, which takes into account the diversity of groups, intersecting oppressions, fragmentation of individual subjectivity, and differences in power and privilege. This understanding, which I call “feminist political togetherness,” differs from other recent visions of political community in the field of political theorizing.

This paper aims to look into the policy stratagems of two ‘greats’ in the pantheon of distinguished Indian rulers – Ashoka and Akbar, which were ‘Dhamma’ and ‘Sulh-i-Kul’, respectively. When we think of negotiations and coalitions, most of the times, we tend to ignore their manifestations in history, and, even then – give little weightage to the events, negotiations and policies which happened in the ‘Eastern’ realm. ‘Dhamma’ and ‘Sulh-i-Kul’ were devised, innovatively, to bind the diverse pluralities in harmony and generate order. These novel policies would be discussed under the lenses of – ancient Indian board strategy game of Chess and the existing theoretical frameworks of – negotiation-analysis and coalition-building, leading to a concluding denouement which would highlight their relevance for the policymakers in the modern world.

This article seeks to examine some of the processes through which gender comes to be racialized in order to challenge the tendency in much feminist theories of gender to analytically separate these categories.  The paper explores the theoretical and political consequences of that separation for those that bear the historical mark of slavery and colonization, while also examining how an attentiveness to these histories and bodies paves the way towards new critical questions as well as a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between oppressed and oppressor. Drawing on the work of decolonial thinkers such as Maria Lugones and Sylvia Wynter, I propose developing at least four ingredients that could be considered integral to the making of a decolonial feminist methodology.  I argue that these ingredients allow us to maintain “gender” as a critical political category of analysis that can serve to denounce and transform colonial relations of power and colonial ways of relating that continue to persist in our present.

The landslide victory of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 general election and many State assembly elections after 2014 have marked a "BJP Dominant System" in Indian politics. BJP's rise as a formidable force with remarkable adaptability in Northeast India is a spectacular phenomenon. The formation of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) as coordinating as well as a political coalition became very significant strategic move for BJP's rise. This article examines the NEDA as a contributory factor and key strategy of BJP in Northeast India.

Throughout Europe and the Americas, groups and communities have been organizing against Islamophobic violence and policies that seem to be multiplying. France and Quebec have been among the societies whose laws have received international media attention and activist opposition, especially for the manner in which they have regulated religious symbols in the public sphere. By looking at the intersections of antiblackness and Islamophobia, the subjugated position of the Muslim Black subject becomes clearer. Délice Mugabo offers a genealogy of Islamophobia that centers on enslaved Black people rather than the conventional Arab or South Asian figure. Through an Afro-pessimist approach, this article then offers a critique of how antiblackness not only grounds Islamophobic policies but has also shaped grassroots organizing against Islamophobia in Quebec. The article provides a timely inquiry on the antiblackness that is foundational to coalition politics that center the state, citizenship, and rights.

This book provides a detailed historical and political analysis of Israel's policy decision-making process towards the Occupied Territories. The book argues that Israel did not have a strategic policy towards the Occupied Territories and instead engaged in non-decision making.

Melanie Klein’s theory of psychic reparation has been rightly criticized for colonial assumptions about which objects and populations are deemed worthy of political reparation. Yet this article cautions against dismissing Klein’s account of reparation altogether, and advocates reading Klein against herself. Illustrating this argument, I offer an against-the-grain reading of the psychic dynamics of postcolonial conflict in another text widely criticized for its colonial assumptions: Star Trek. I focus on the anticolonial revolutionary character Kira Nerys in spinoff Deep Space Nine, who never forgives her colonial oppressors, but does integrate love and hate in the context of radical anticolonial coalition-building.

This article turns to 1980s US women of color feminism to develop a notion of politico-ethical coalition politics as an alternative to contemporary articulations of activist coalition politics that obscure the high-stakes politics of coalescing across hostile race, class, gender, sex, and sexuality divides. Rethinking political joining outside of notions of ontological spectacle and ethical community, women of color feminists such as Bernice Reagon, Audre Lorde, and Gloria Anzaldúa encourage a uniquely political conception of coalition that resists appeals to political indeterminacy while still anticipating the power struggles and danger inherent to working in coalition. This understanding of coalition, I argue, is best thought of as politico-ethical insofar as the political commitment to undermining interlocking oppressive forces grounding such efforts is overtly self- reflexive, thereby encouraging an ethical sensibility characterized by love, existential transformation, and a reconceptualization of identity and consciousness in coalitional terms.

The purpose of this executive summary is to discuss the similarities of the strategy and policies of Catherine II “The Great” and Vladimir Putin. These similarities offer insight into future Russian actions and allow the First Infantry Division, U.S. Army Europe, and our NATO partnered nations to anticipate and plan for aggressive actions in the Baltics and Ukraine.

Catherine II “the Great”, was the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796.  Her reign was known for allowing Russia to emerge as a notable power.  Her policies are echoed in the foreign and domestic strategies implemented by Vladimir Putin throughout his term as President between 2008 to the present. This executive summary will explore four characteristics that the two leaders’ policies share:
 
1) International Recognition: They both initiated their time in power with actions that were seen as progressive to many western powers and brought Russia to the international stage. 

2) Retention of Power: Each of them were concerned about retaining their position in leadership and often brutally suppressed opposition and pursued nationalist policies to reduce exposure to public uprisings.
 
3) Expansion: They both initiated conflicts that pursued historic territorial ambitions of Russia and offered domestic or economic rewards to their rule.

4) Assimilation of Muslims: Both Catherine and Putin used methods of co-option to assimilate Muslims into Russian society, reducing the threat of social unrest among ethnic Russians.

After ruling The Gambia for twenty-two years with an iron-fist, Yahya Jammeh was defeated in the polls by a Coalition of seven of the eight opposition parties in December 2016. Since it gained independence from Britain in 1965, The Gambia had never experienced a transition through the ballot-box. How has the establishment of a new political settlement shaped the democratic transition in The Gambia? How does elite consensus or its lack thereof shape Gambia’s fragile democratic transition? Under which conditions can exclusive elite bargains affect and not affect political settlements?

Combining semi-structured interviews and internet sources, enriched with participant observation, this work is an explanatory single case study. It departs from an interpretivist epistemological standpoint. Using inclusive and exclusive elite bargains as analytical frameworks in relation to the theory of democratic transition, I found that exclusion per se does not affect transitions when the excluded elites lack the incentives to galvanise collective actions. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, this paper found out that some inclusions can lead to instability.

This work contributes to the development of Dankwart Rustow’s theory of democratic transition.

This article problematizes how non-spatial factors facilitate the formation of extraordinary ideologically mismatched government coalitions. An intensive case study analysis of the SYRIZA-ANEL governments in Greece (2015-2019) suggests that a shared symbolic discourse directed against mainstream contenders allowed elite actors with widely disparate programmatic commitments to circumvent rigid constraints imposed by minimal range theory. Under conditions of acute polarization and socioeconomic upheaval owing to the Greek sovereign debt crisis, a strategic use of populist anti-bailout discourse upset the usual order of party competition along spatial dimensions, fostering cross-ideological cohabitation at the executive level between the radical-left SYRIZA and the radical-right ANEL for a total of four years. However, an office-seeking approach based on a populist symbolic framework to represent salient grievances cannot fully eliminate policy dissension. Once core ideological commitments become explicitly challenged, inelastic policy-oriented factions and voting blocs may ultimately precipitate the expiration of the populist coalition.

Il paper presenta un’analisi introduttiva ai vari aspetti che caratterizzano il fenomeno della "competizione politica" adottando una prospettiva come alla scienza politica ed all'economia delle istituzioni.
In primo luogo si analizzerà il rapporto tra il concetto di procedimento elettorale diretto e il concetto di procedimento elettorale rappresentativo, mentre in un secondo momento si svilupperà l’analisi delle dinamiche proprie del contesto politico rappresentativo ed, in particolare, si osserveranno i modelli di competizione (elettorale) uni-dimensionale e bi-dimensionale tra i soggetti politici.
In seguito, si procederà all'applicazione di tali riflessioni sull’analisi dei sistemi di partito; verranno dunque analizzati i fenomeni attinenti alle coalizioni di partitiche nell’ambito dei contesti elettorali, parlamentari e governativi, con un particolar riferimento alla teoria dell’allocazione dei ministeri elaborata da Laver e Shepsle.
Nella parte finale dell'elaborato verranno analizzati alcuni principi di funzionamento delle formule elettorali vigenti (sia a livello statale che locale) ed alcuni paradossi che sottendono al loro funzionamento in determinate circostanze.

Whom to appoint, in which ministry and when to replace cabinet ministers in coalitional presidentialism? This study was built upon the arguments of rational choice and agency theory to analyse the strategies adopted by Brazilian presidents for the selection and deselection
of cabinet ministers during the Brazilian New Republic. Based on a previous proposal, the Ministerial Politicization Index (MPI) was developed to systematically measure ministerial appointments, including features such as degrees of party-political insertion and technical expertise. The typical recruitment was made of white males,
from Sao Paulo, graduated from law or economic schools, who had held elective position, were scholars, self-employed professionals or civil servants, and with mixed profiles as to their politicization. The division of government into four clusters using objective criteria of political attractiveness was used to understand the presidential portfolio allocation strategies. The results from multinomial logistic regression indicate that ministries that comprise the core of government, in comparison to other areas, were mostly assigned to affiliates of the president's party. Ministerial appointments in this area tended to be less politicized. The most politically prestigious agencies inside Presidency were allocated to the chief Executive's most trusted aides. Finally, the
determinants of early exit from a ministerial position were tested through survival analysis. We find that the more politicized an appointee, the less time one spent in their position. Presidents were responsive to accusations and controversies involving their ministers. This effect, however, was dependent on ideological position. When a minister
was the subject of media scandals, the further ideologically they were from the president, the greater their likelihood of leaving the postition. Presidents also tended to replace ministers in response to broader signs of unsatisfactory performance, such as falling popularity and worsening economic indicators. Two main conclusions can be highlighted: 1) Brazilian presidents have high discretion in the selection and
replacement of ministers; and 2) this discretion was used to try to print a proper agenda of government.

Inter-party conflict management is a typical coalitional problem in parliamentary governments. To study how and why conflicts in coalitions emerge and how parties cope with them can enhance our knowledge of coalition governance. Here, I propose a framework for comparative studies on the topic. The framework is based on the conception of coalition politics as politics of exchange. It looks at inter-party interactions, but also accounts for the impact of intra-party politics. Moreover, I provide a classification of inter-party conflicts in coalitions and point out when they are more likely. The process of conflict management is operationalized with two proxies - actors and arenas - and a taxonomy of conflict terminations is presented. The viability of the framework is tested both mapping coalition governments according to their modes of managing internal conflicts and, after deriving research hypotheses, through empirical inquiries of conflict management in diverse coalitions

‘Statecraft’ theory, with its focus on politicians’ strategic, electoral choices, has undergone a revival in recent years. This is a reply to those authors who have used ‘Statecraft’ in their analysis of the Conservative Party under David Cameron [notably Hayton (2014) Parliamentary Affairs 67, 1; Gamble (2014) Parliamentary Affairs]. Statecraft theory raises various questions and contains implications—ontological, epistemic and methodological—that need to be dealt with by its contemporary advocates. I conclude that while the contributions discussed here are a valuable reminder that strategic thinking is an important part of what any politician does, strict adherence to the Statecraft model is a straightjacket to our understanding of British politics.

This essay aims to craft intersections between the figure of the cyborg and disability that part from the usual ones. I will frame disability advocacy through the concept of "cyborg politics", as proposed by Donna J. Haraway in her famous Cyborg Manifesto. I will discern two possible meanings of it, affinity and avidity. I will examine how affinity is performed within disability identity and politics, mentioning the positioning of Deaf advocacy too. Afterwards, I will most extensively frame the concept of avidity, presenting an example of restrooms politics (PISSAR) in which disabled and trans/genderqueer people collaborated. I will also examine how this last intersection let emerge additional concerns, especially rooted in gender normativity. In conclusion, I will underline the positive impacts that a mobile politics, based on affinity and avidity, had (and can still have) for disability advocacy.

אנו מציגים כאן ניתוח רב-מערכתי של משילות הממשלה בהתבסס על סדרות של מדדים המקובלים 
בתחומי מדע המדינה, ממשל ומדיניות ציבורית. הממשלה בה אנו ממוקדים בדו"ח זה היא זו לגביה
.19- שמשלה במקביל לכנסת ה 33- בה פעלה הממשלה ה 2014 יש לנו תמונת נתונים מקיפה: שנת
(מכסה המאפיינת ממשלות בשיטת 0.75 היות ומדובר על ממשלה שבפועל לא הספיקה למלא אפילו
ממשל פרלמנטרית-רב מפלגתית) מתקופת כהונתה, הרי שלפנינו מקרה של חוסר משילות והמטרה
בפועל היא למצוא מהי נקודת הכשל בתהליך המשילות.
, אנו בוחנים משילות כיכולת למשול: היכולת לגבש קואליציה פוליטית על בסיס קווי מדיניות מוסכמים 
יכולת הקואליציה לפעול במשותף עם בסיס קווי מדיניות אלה בכדי לעצב מדיניות ציבורית ולפעול מול
המגזר הציבורי כדי לבצע את המדיניות הנקבעת.
מבחינה מבנית, התמונה שמייצרת קואליציה זו היא של מפלגה המקימה את הממשלה דרך ברית 
עם מפלגה קטנה ממנה, אך כשהברית הזו קורסת, מוצאת עצמה המפלגה הגדולה למעשה שוות
כוחות מול המפלגה שניה בגודלה, המהווה שותפה בכירה וקואליציה ובפועל שונה בכל עמדותיה מזו
של מקימת הקואליציה. מעבר לפער הקטן בין שתי מפלגות אלה מבחינת מושבים, הכנסת עצמה
הייתה מפוצלת מבחינת כמות המפלגות האפקטיבית בתוכה.
ללא מצע בחירות פורמלי אך 2013 הורכבה על ידי הליכוד-ביתנו שניגש לבחירות 33- הממשלה ה 
שלא 2009 בעצם עם מצע כפול (כלומר של הליכוד מצד אחד וישראל ביתנו מצד אחר) של בחירות
שונה. שילוב זה כלל קווי מדיניות מוסכמים לצד קווי מדיניות מעורפלים שאיפשרו הקמת ממשלה
שהתבססה על שילוב כוחות מנוגדים. ההסכמים הקואליציוניים כללו פשרות רבות מצד הליכוד-ביתנו
כלפי 'יש עתיד' ,'הבית היהודי' ו'התנועה'. עם זאת, חלק גדול מהתיקים בממשלה היה בידי הליכוד
מה שאמור היה להבטיח לו שליטה סביב שולחן הממשלה ועל מעשיה בפועל.
על פי ניתוח תוכן שביצענו של מצעי המפלגות, של ההסכמים הקואליציוניים ובדיקת יישום ההסכמים, 
כמו גם בחינת הניצול התקציבי של משרדי הממשלה, ניתן לראות כי שלא כמו מפלגות אחרות פעלו
שרי 'יש עתיד'  באופן נמרץ כדי להשיג את מטרות המצע שלהם הכולל קווי מדיניות המנוגדים לקווי
המדיניות המוגדרים של  הליכוד-ביתנו ושל הבית היהודי. כך מצא עצמו הליכוד בראש קואליציה
שפועלת להשגת מטרות שאינן משקפות את רצונותיו.
נתניהו מצא עצמו בראש קואליציה שמבצעת מדיניות שאינה עולה בקנה אחד עם קווי המדיניות בהם 
הוא מעוניין (ואף בפועל שבוי בתוכה). הדבר נתן לו תמריץ לחפש חלופה אחרת גם במחיר של הליכה
) ולבקש ממנו מנדט חדש לניווט המדינה. McLean 2001 אל הבוחר שמהווה שחקן וטו לא-וודאי (
זהו דיוקנה של חוסר משילות: פיצול בין-מפלגתי, פער קטן מבחינת מושבים בכנסת בין המפלגות 
המועמדות להקמת הקואליציה, השתלטות טקטית של מקימת הקואליציה על תיקים רבים, כאשר
ברמה העניינית אותם תיקים וכוחות הופכים להיות מכשיר ליישום מדיניות המנוגדת לקווי היסוד של
המפלגה המקימה את הקואליציה. 
ביקשנו לבחון את יכולת הדרג הפוליטי להפעיל את הדרג המנהלי דרך ביצוע סקר בכירים שסיימו 
את שירותם הציבורי בחמש השנים האחרונות. הסקר שבוצע על ידי מכון "מדגם" בהנהלת הד"ר
משתתפים עם רקע מגוון מבחינת שירותם הציבורי. הם התבקשו לדרג את 130 מינה צמח, כלל
מקצועיות המגזר הציבורי ואת תרומת החלקים השונים שבו לביצוע הוראות הדרג הפוליטי, כמו גם
להתייחס לפעילות היבטים שונים בתהליך הארגוני במגזר הציבורי ולהשפעתה על יישום מדיניות.
התמונה אותה הם תיארו הייתה של מגזר ציבורי מקצועי, המסוגל לבצע מהלכים בהינתן הוראות
ברורות של הדרג הפוליטי והתעלמות מאינטרסים האישיים והפוליטיים שלו עצמו. צוינו לטובה
כמכשירים מבצעים בהקשר זה אגף התקציבים והיועץ המשפטי, כמו גם סוכני ביצוע מהמגזר העסקי
והשלישי. מי שצוינו כגורמים מעכבי יישום היו נציבות שירות המדינה, החשב הכללי וארגוני העובדים.
אם נצרף את 'מידע הפנים' הזה למה שראינו למעלה, הרי שלטובת שרי יש עתיד שבאו עם סדר יום
מפורט ורצון לפעול, עמד מגזר ציבורי שמסוגל לבצע את פעולותיו. כך שאם הליכוד יכול היה לסמוך
על ריבוי המשרדים תחת חסותו וההנחה שיוכל לתמרן את פעילותו על בסיס ייצוגו סביב שולחן
הממשלה, הרי שיש עתיד יכלו לנצל את שליטתם על המשרדים השונים בכדי לקדם תהליכים לאורך
ולרוחב המגזר הציבורי.
יוצא דופן בהקשר זה היה התחום המאקרו-כלכלי, שהתמצה באותן שנים בריסון תקציבי והתמודדות 
עם הגרעון הממשלתי. משמעות הפחתת הגרעון הממשלתי הייתה בהגדרה הפחתת ההוצאה
הציבורית ופגיעה בצמיחה תוך הפחתת מעורבות הממשלה כשחקן פעיל במשק. מאמץ זה הובל על
ידי שר אוצר ממפלגת 'יש עתיד' שהתחייבה במצעה להרחיב את מעורבות הממשלה בכלכלה ולא
להפחיתה. כך כפי שהליכוד מצא עצמו בראש קואליציה שפועלת בניגוד לרצון המדיניות שלו, תועלתה
של יש עתיד מהקואליציה פחתה עקב הקצאת המשאבים המאקרו-כלכלית אותה הובילה הממשלה,
כשהאחריות לתהליך זה מוטלת על שר אוצר מטעם יש עתיד. כך שני הצדדים חוו מציאות מתמדת
של פעילות שלפחות בחלקה מנוגדת למחויבויות היסוד שלהם. 
הייתה אם כן בעיית היעדר ליבה בתוך הקואליציה, שהובילה 33- בעיית המשילות של הממשלה ה 
להסכם קואליציוני שהזיק למקימת הקואליציה. הסכם זה יצר את הרקע ואת חלוקת התיקים
שאיפשרה לשרי יש עתיד לקדם את מדיניותם המנוגדת לזו של הליכוד. במצב כזה תועלת הליכוד
מהשותפות הזו הלכה וירדה. מבחינת יש עתיד למרות שזו יכולה הייתה לקדם מדיניות בסדרה שלמה
של ערוצים, הרי שבמישור המאקרו-כלכלי היא מצאה עצמה מקדמת מדיניות של ריסון תקציבי,
שבמידה רבה עמדה בניגוד למצע הבחירות שלה .בסיכומו של עניין, נראה כי הלחצים המנוגדים הללו
על שתי המפלגות המובילות בקואליציה הגביר את רצון שני הצדדים לפזר את הקואליציה, הממשלה
והכנסת וללכת לבחירות חדשות.

Os ministros influenciam a alocação de recursos pelo Executivo Federal? O presente trabalho discute
em que medida o poder dentro do Executivo é compartilhado entre o presidente e os partidos que formam a
coalizão governativa, analisando a alocação de recursos pelo Executivo Federal. O foco específico está nas
emendas parlamentares ao orçamento federal no período de 2004 a 2010. Busca-se identificar se o controle de
ministérios pelos partidos da coalizão significa um canal privilegiado para os membros dos partidos da coalizão.
A hipótese central é que ser membro do partido do ministro ao qual o recurso está vinculado aumenta a chance
de liberação da emenda parlamentar. Os resultados indicam que parlamentares do mesmo partido do ministro
são beneficiados na alocação de emendas. Contudo, o viés partidário não é extremo, de forma que o partido do
presidente é igualmente beneficiado e os demais partidos da coalizão também recebem recursos, indicando a
atuação de mecanismos de coordenação pela Presidência da República.

What explains minority government performance? An analysis of Spanish governments (1979–2008) finds mixed support for the importance of parliamentary procedural mechanisms. Yet an analysis of the Zapatero government (2004–8) reveals that a governing party with a central position in the party system can indeed shift alliances, which is consistent with the hypothesis that shifting facilitates effective governance. Additionally, the evidence indicates that minority governments may also or instead rely on alliances across governmental levels in a multilevel system. Regional parties with representation in the national parliament and sub-national governing responsibilities provide the critical link between governmental levels.

Following the 2010-2011 revolution, Islamist and secularist political parties and women's rights organizations formed coalitions in Tunisia. Nothing of the sort had happened before in Tunisian history. This article considers the conditions that led feminists with different ideological beliefs to create what I call an "unlikely feminist coalition" in Tunisia. I argue that Islamists and secularists can form unlikely feminist coalitions when facing similar threats, working on similar tasks prior to formation of the coalition, the experience of common grievances, and a shared feminist identity. Drawing on the gender politics and social movement literature on coalitions, I suggest that more needs to be understood about unlikely feminist coalitions, especially in the Middle East.

The article is dedicated to analysing types of cabinets and cabinet stability in Central and Eastern European parliamentary democracies. The author proposed several classifications of cabinets and analysed which types of cabinets in each classification are more stable. The scientist analysed the experiences of 147 cabinets in ten Central and Eastern European countries and argued that majority cabinets are more stable than minority cabinets, single-party cabinets are more stable then coalition cabinets. The researcher also suggested the logic of different types of cabinets’ stability. Special attention was focused on stability of different types of coalition cabinets.
Keywords: cabinet, cabinet stability, party and nonparty cabinets, single-party and coalition cabinets, majority and minority cabinets, minimal winning and surplus coalitions, Central and Eastern Europe.

There is a growing commitment by different parts of the alternative food movement (AFM) to improve labor conditions for conventional food chain workers, and to develop economically fair alternatives, albeit under a range of conditions that structure mobilization. This has direct implications for the process of intra-movement building and therefore the degree to which the movement ameliorates economic inequality at the point of food labor. This article asks what accounts for the variation in AFM labor commitments across different contexts. It then appraises a range of activist perspectives, practices, and organizational approaches. The answer emerges through a comparative analysis of three California social movement organizations enmeshed in the particularities of local contentious food politics. The cases include a labor union representing grocery store and meatpacking/food processing workers, a food justice organization working to create green jobs and independent funding models, and an organic urban farming and educational organization. Commitment to fair labor standards varies due to differences in organizational capacity, the degree of dedication to ending economic inequality in local activist culture, and the openness of local political and economic institutions to working class struggles. The article concludes with a discussion of how these findings inform our understanding of the process of cooperation and division in the AFM, particularly regarding the complexities and contradictions of using food labor to combat economic inequality. Movement building in the midst of varying institutional, organizational, and cultural contexts reinforces the value of a reflexive approach to this imperfect politics of process.

Policy interest in the basic income (BI) proposal is booming, but remarkably little attention is spent on systematically examining political strategies to build robust enabling coalitions in favour of BI. This paper reviews two thorny problems that affect the coalition-building efforts of BI advocates. The problem of cheap political support suggests most BI support may be of little value to further its implementation, while the problem of persistent political division argues superficial agreement amongst committed BI advocates may mask persistent disagreement on which precise model to adopt. The paper discusses the relevance of each of these problems for BI politics, employing both analytical arguments and brief illustrations taken from debates in various countries.

Après la phase d’émergence et d’installation dans les années quatre-vingt, les partis écologistes semblent avoir franchi des étapes. La première est d’avoir su s’installer durablement dans les différents paysages politiques nationaux. Nombre d’entre eux ont aujourd’hui de dix à vingt années d’existence. Il s’agit donc de formations politiques institutionnalisées et souvent présentes dans les enceintes parlementaires. Les questions qui avaient fondé la naissance et l’identité des partis verts ont aussi changé. La question énergétique se pose dans des termes différents, tout comme la problématique des pollutions et des atteintes à l’environnement. D’un point de vue inversé, les partis écologistes ont le plus souvent « complété » leur programme ou leur approche. D’une préoccupation initialement centrée sur la problématique environnementale, plusieurs ont largement renforcé leurs réflexions, leurs programmes et leurs actions sur des axes nouveaux; en particulier les questions économiques et sociales. Dans le domaine politique, ces évolutions ont conduit à des performances électorales contrastées mais surtout, depuis près de trois ans, aux premières expériences gouvernementales. Aujourd’hui, quatre formations vertes sont au pouvoir : en Finlande (1995), en Italie (1996), en France (1997) et en Allemagne (1998). Par ailleurs, la participation au pouvoir de partis verts, aux échelons communaux ou régionaux, n’est plus un fait exceptionnel. Comment ce processus s’est-il déroulé, quels en sont les tenants et aboutissants à l’échelle de chaque parti et quelles sont leurs perspectives ? Comment caractériser les partis verts ? Telles sont les problématiques développées au cœur de cet ouvrage qui rassemble des contributions des meilleurs experts européens en la matière.

This chapter surveys the history, operation in coalition, support base, and key policies of Kōmeitō (the Clean Government Party). It begins with an overview of party typologies and argues that Kōmeitō is not easily placed in any comparative political science category. The chapter then delves into the party's history, detailing its origins in 1964 as an out growth from Sōka Gakkai, an influential Japanese lay Buddhist organization. It discusses Kōmeitō's increasing institutional disaggregation from Sōka Gakkai after its formal sepa ration in 1970, its role in changing Japan's political system in the 1990s, and its entrée in to governmental coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 1999. The analysis extends to the present and draws on elections data, party publications, interviews with Kōmeitō politicians, ethnography within Sōka Gakkai, and other sources to track ways the party has relied on Gakkai vote-gatherers to secure a pivotal position within Japanese pol itics, even as its adherent supporters have become increasingly diverse and liable to cri tique the party their religion founded. It concludes by considering challenges Kōmeitō faces from within Sōka Gakkai, from the LDP, and from Japan's demographic, political, and societal shifts.

Whereas the classic literature on strategic voting has focused on the dilemma faced by voters who prefer a candidate for whom they expect has little chance of winning a seat, we consider the dilemma faced by voters in PR systems who do not expect their preferred party to be in government. We develop hypotheses relating to strategic voting over multi-party governments that we test using the New Zealand Election Study (NZES) campaign study of 2002. We find evidence that expectations play a role in structuring vote choice. While there is clear evidence of wishful thinking there is also evidence that voters respond to expectations about government formation. These expectations may mobilize voters and lead them to defect from their first preference.

The aim of the study is to give an overview of the press policies of the Coalition period between 1944 and  1948. The author presents the press which newly appeared in the short period between the beginning of Soviet military operations and the formation of the Interim National Government, as well as the difficulties of the licensing process of the publication. The attidudes of tehe parties forming the Hungarian Nation Independence Front towards the press also briefly outlined. Then the period between December 1944 and April 1945 is examined, and the press policy of the Interim National Government, the three statues concerning the press, as well as the efforts made by the government and the parties in order the secure the paper supply for the journals ar dealt with. The period extending from April 1945 to the elections in November was already one of the tensions. It is here that the first press scandal, erupted in summer of 1945, during the which the central journal of the National Peasant Party did not appear fora couple of days, is discussed. Next, the vicissitudes of licensing and the difficulties of paper suppy are examined. The latter remained unresolved and even deteriorated even after the eclections of 1945 the new chief institution of information policy, the Ministry of Information Provision had been formed. Moreover, from early in 1946 questions of press policy and press policing were also raised. The Ministry of Home Affairs wanted to introduce a new statue of press regulation, which, however, aborted. From spring of 1946 the number of those journals which were temporarily banned by the Ministry for some reason increased constantly. One of the results was a grownig adaptation of both the press and press policies to political changes. After the elections of 1947 the press, still so variegated around thr turn of 1944 and 1945, paled definitively, as the direction of press policies were gradually taken in hand by the Hungarian Communist Party. In the process, the Ministry of Information Provision was suppressed, and in 1948, after the Hungarian Workers' Party had been established, the direction of the press was totally subordinated to the Party.

Silvio Berlusconi has unquestionably been one of Italy’s most important political figures since the early 1990s. The general election campaign of February 2013 demonstrated that he is anything but out of the political game. Consequently, it seems worthwhile to examine Berlusconi as a prime minister and coalition leader. This article seeks to understand the extent to which he was able to command and guide his governing coalition, as Prime Minister, as well as his influence and the constraints on his actions. After presenting the theoretical framework, the article examines Berlusconi within the context of Italian political history and explores his impact on coalition governance by illustrating two cases of how he managed intra-coalition conflicts during his second term of office. Finally, it discusses the findings and highlights the resources Berlusconi was able to deploy ‘against’ his allies and the constraints he faced as Prime Minister. A brief comparison of Berlusconi and other Italian prime ministers is provided

Over the last two decades, LGBTQ and reproductive justice advocacy groups have attempted to queer reproductive justice by building coalitions and developing a shared agenda between the new movements. The recent election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States has presented a different set of challenges to this queering process. Through the examination of the political actions and stances taken by the Trump administration as well as the public discourse on identity politics and intersectionality that has emerged in the wake of Trump's election, this article explores what queering reproductive justice looks like in this changed political environment and discusses the implications of Trump's election on the potential for cross-movement coalition building. How does this political moment help us further develop the concept of political intersectionality?