Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T07:27:51.882Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Government Formation and Endogenous Parties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

David P. Baron
David P. Baron
Affiliation:
Stanford University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I provide a formal theory of government for a political system characterized by a proportional representation electoral system, a parliamentary government that exercises collective responsibility, and a government formation process. Political parties are assumed to be policy-oriented and to serve the interests of those who vote for them. Parties choose policy platforms that determine their representation in parliament; and given that representation, the parties bargain over the government to be formed and the policies that government will implement. The model yields equilibria with the property that parties choose dispersed policy positions. Thus, electoral incentives in proportional representation parliamentary systems need not lead to policy convergence. The theory provides predictions of party locations such as those developed in the manifesto project.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 87 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 34 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, John H. 1983. “A Spatial Model with Party Activists: Implications for Electoral Dynamics.” Public Choice 41:63–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aumann, Robert J., and Maschler, M.. 1964. “The Bargaining Set for Cooperative Games.” In Advances in Game Theory, ed. Drescher, Melvin. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Austen-Smith, David, and Banks, Jeffrey. 1988. “Elections, Coalitions, and Legislative Outcomes.” American Political Science Review 82:405–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Austen-Smith, David, and Banks, Jeffrey. 1990. “Stable Governments and the Allocation of Policy Portfolios.” American Political Science Review 84:891–906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axelrod, Robert. 1970. Conflict of Interest. Chicago: Markham.Google Scholar
Baron, David P. 1991. “A Spatial Bargaining Theory of Government Formation in a Parliamentary System.” American Political Science Review 85:137–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, David P., and Ferejohn, John A.. 1989. “Bargaining in Legislatures.” American Political Science Review 83:1181–1206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, Duncan. 1958. The Theory of Committees and Elections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Budge, Ian, and Keman, Hans. 1990. Parties and Democracy: Coalition Formation and Government Functioning in Twenty States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Budge, Ian, Laver, Michael J., and Strom, Kaare. 1991. “Constraints on Government Formation in Multiparty Democracies.” University of Essex. Typescript.Google Scholar
Budge, Ian, Robertson, David, and Hearl, Derek, eds. 1987. Ideology, Strategy, and Party Change: Spatial Analyses of Postwar Election Programmes in Nineteen Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W. 1987. “Electoral Equilibrium Under Alternative Voting Institutions.” American Journal of Political Science 31:82–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W. 1990a. “Multicandidate Spatial Competition.” In Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting, ed. Enelow, James M. and Hinich, Melvin J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W. 1990b. “Centripetal and Centrifugal Incentives in Electoral Systems.” American journal of Political Science 34:903–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Swaan, Abram. 1973. Coalition Theories and Cabinet Formation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Dodd, Laurence C. 1976. Coalitions in Parliamentary Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Enelow, James M., and Hinich, Melvin J.. 1984. The Spatial Theory of Voting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Enelow, James M., and Hinich, Melvin J., eds. 1990. Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph, and Shepsle, Kenneth. 1987. “The Effect of Electoral Awards in Multiparty Competition with Entry.” American Political Science Review 81:525–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph, and Weber, Shlomo. 1985. “Multiparty Equilibrium Under Proportional Representation.” American Political Science Review 79:693–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, Michael, and Budge, Ian. 1992. Party Policy and Coalition Government. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, Michael, and Schofield, Norman. 1990. Multiparty Governments: The Politics of Coalition in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Laver, Michael J., and Shepsle, Kenneth. 1990. “Coalitions and Cabinet Government.” American Political Science Review 84:873–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. 1990. “The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws, 1945–85.” American Political Science Review 84:481–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1985. “Elections with Limited Information: A Fulfilled Expectations Model Using Contemporaneous Poll and Endorsement Data as Information Sources.” Journal of Economic Theory 36:55–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., Ordeshook, Peter C., and Weiner, M.. 1978. “The Competitive Solution for n-Person Games Without Transferable Utility, with an Application to Committee Games.” American Political Science Review 72:599–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palfrey, Thomas. 1984. “Spatial Equilibrium with Entry.” Review of Economic Studies 51:139–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rae, Douglas W. 1971. The Political Consequences of Electoral Eaws. 2d ed., New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William. 1962. The Theory of Political Coalitions. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Schofield, Norman, Grofman, Bernard, and Feld, Scott L.. 1988. “The Core and Stability of Group Choice in Spatial Voting Games.” American Political Science Review 82:195–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepsle, Kenneth A., and Cohen, Ronald N.. 1990. “Multiparty Competition, Entry and Deference in Spatial Models of Elections.” In Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting, ed. Enelow, James M. and Hinich, Melvin J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Strom, Kaare. 1990. Minority Government and Majority Rule. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taagepera, Rein, and Shugart, Matthew S.. 1989. Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Robert. 1971. “Stable Coalition Proposals in Majority-Rule Voting.” Journal of Political Economy 3:254–71.Google Scholar