² The concept of ‘contract parliamentarism’ was first used in Torbjörn Bergman and Nicholas Aylott, ‘Parlamentarism per kontrakt? Blir den svenska innovationen länglivad?’, in Riksdagens ärsbok 2002/03, Stockholm, Riksdagen, 2003, pp. 4–7.Google Scholar

³ Kaare Strøm, Minority Government and Majority Rule, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 61–2.Google Scholar

⁴ See Bale, Tim, ‘Cinderella and her Ugly Sisters: The Mainstream and Extreme Right in Europe's Bipolarising Party Systems’, West European Politics, 26: 3 (2003), pp.67–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵ The text of the agreement is on the website of the Liberal Democrat History Group: http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/record.jsp?type=page&ID=175&statement%20on%20lib%20lab%20pact.Google Scholar

⁶ Nikolenyi, Csaba, ‘Coordination Problem and Grand Coalition: The Puzzle of the Government Formation Game in the Czech Republic, 1998’, Communist and Post Communist Studies, 36 (2003), pp. 325–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷ The Swedish Greens and the Social Democrats are very close in policy space. Some studies actually place the Greens to the left of the Social Democrats, but in the eyes of the most relevant actors, the party leaderships in the parliamentary parties, the Greens are more of a centre party than are the Social Democrats, see Nicholas Aylott and Torbjörn Bergman, ‘Almost in Government, But Not Quite: The Swedish Greens, Bargaining Constraints and the Rise of Contract Parliamentarism’, paper presented in panel 6, ECPR joint sessions of workshops, Uppsala, 13–18 April 2004.Google Scholar

⁸ See Wolfgang C. Müller and Kaare Strøm (eds), Policy, Office, or Votes? How Political Parties in Western Europe Make Hard Decisions, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar

⁹ In Sweden, the so-called bourgeois bloc is composed of (in descending order of popularity) the conservative Moderata Samlingspartiet, the traditionally liberal (but recently rather populist) Folkpartiet Liberalerna, the Kristdemokraterna and the Centerpartiet. In New Zealand, the equivalent (if slightly more putative) bloc is made up by National (conservative), ACT (neo-liberal) and the self-styled centrist (Christian) United Future and the aggressively populist (but welfarist) New Zealand First.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Bergman, Torbjörn, ‘Formation Rules and Minority Governments’, European Journal of Political Research, 23: 1 (1993), pp. 55–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar On New Zealand's ‘negative parliamentarianism’ in comparative perspective, see Jonathan Boston, Governing Under Proportional Representation: Lessons from Europe, Wellington, Institute of Policy Studies, 1998, pp. 23–5.

¹¹ See Flemming Juul Christiansen, ‘The Inclusion of Challenger Parties into Legislative Accommodations in Danish Parliamentary Politics’, paper presented at the ECPR Conference, Marburg, Germany, 18–21 September 2003. See also Green-Pedersen, Christoffer, ‘Minority Governments and Party Politics: the Political and Institutional Background to the Danish Miracle” ’, Journal of Public Policy, 21: 1 (2001), pp. 53–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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¹³ Interview conducted withike Pettersson (previously a junior minister and then the general secretary or partisekreterare of the Centre Party) by Bergman on 25 May 1996.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Statsrädsberedningen 1998 (The Prime Minister's Office), ‘Pressmeddelande: Samarbete mellan regeringen, vänsterpartiet och miljöpartiet’, 5 October 1998.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Bale, Tim and Dann, Christine, ‘Is the Grass Really Greener? The Rationale and Reality of Support Party Status: A Case Study’, Party Politics, 8: 3 (2002), pp. 349–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁶ Bale, Tim, ‘ “As You Sow, so Shall You Reap”: The New Zealand Greens and the General Election of 2002’, Environmental Politics, 12: 2 (2003), pp.140–4.Google Scholar

¹⁷ United were promised a ‘Commission for the Family’, no legalization of cannabis and a comprehensive drugs strategy, legislative support for victims' rights, and that transport legislation would include provisions for alternative funding options for road building.Google Scholar

¹⁸ See New Zealand Cabinet Office Circular NZ CO (02) 11, 3 September 2002, which is helpfully available on the web at http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/cabinet/circulars/co02/COC_02_11.pdf Google Scholar

¹⁹ Confirmed in NZ Cabinet Office Circular NZ CO (02) 11, 3 September 2002.Google Scholar

²⁰ Jonathan Boston and Stephen Church, ‘Government Formation after the 2002 General Election’, in Jonathan Boston et al. (eds), New Zealand Votes: The General Election of 2002, Wellington, Victoria University Press, 2003, p. 355.Google Scholar

²¹ Full text of the agreements is available at http://www.beehive.govt.nz/Documents/Files/NZFirst.pdf and http://www.beehive.govt.nz/Documents/Files/United.pdf.Google Scholar

²² Full text of the agreement is available at http://greens.org.nz/searchdocs/other9314.html.Google Scholar

²³ Bergman, ‘Formation Rules and Minority Governments’.Google Scholar

²⁴ Bergman and Aylott, ‘Parlamentarism per kontrakt?’, pp. 4–7.Google Scholar

²⁵ A ‘walk-away value’ is what a negotiator, such as a party leader, can gain without a new agreement; i.e. what he or she secures by walking away from the bargaining table. See Arthur Lupia and Kaare Strøm, ‘Bargaining, Transaction Costs, and Coalition Governance’, in Kaare Strøm, Wolfgang C. Müller and Torbjörn Bergman (eds), Cabinets and Coalition Bargaining: The Democratic Life Cycle in Western Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.Google Scholar

²⁶ Nicholas Aylott, Torbjörn Bergman and Jan Jämte, ‘Fighting Off the Challengers: The Swedish Social Democrats and their Support Parties or, Why the Greens Could Not Force Themselves into Government!’, paper presented at the ECPR Conference, Marburg, 18–21 September 2003, p. 12.Google Scholar

²⁷ See Sören Holmberg, ‘Riksdagsvalet 2002: Valu-siffror’, Swedish Election Studies Programme (www.valforskningsprogrammet.pol.gu.se), accessed July 2003.Google Scholar

²⁸ Anders Widfeldt, ‘Sweden’, in Wolfgang Rüdig (ed.), Green Party Members. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, forthcoming.Google Scholar

²⁹ Burchell, Jon, ‘ “Small Steps” or “Great Leaps”: How the Swedish Greens are Learning the Lessons of Government Participation’, Scandinavian Political Studies, 24, (2001), pp. 239–54.Google Scholar

³⁰ According to media reports the agreement was approved by only 10 votes to five with five abstentions.Google Scholar

³¹ See Jack Vowles, Peter Aimer, Susan Banducci, Jeffrey Karp and Raymond Miller (eds), Voters' Veto: The 2002 Election in New Zealand and the Consolidation of Minority Government, Auckland, Auckland University Press; and Tim Bale, ‘New Zealand’, in Rüdig (ed.), Green Party Members.Google Scholar

³² For example, on Western Europe, see Wolfgang C. Müller and Kaare Strøm (eds), Coalition Governments in Western Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000.Google Scholar

³³ See Bale, Tim and Bergman, Torbjörn, ‘A Taste of Honey is Worse than None at All? Coping with the Generic Challenges of Support Party Status in Sweden and New Zealand’, Party Politics, 12: 2 (2006), pp. 189–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁴ See Mair, Peter, ‘The Green Challenge and Political Competition: How Typical is the German Experience?’, German Politics, 10 (2001), pp.99–116 CrossRefGoogle Scholarand Bale, ‘Cinderella and her Ugly Sisters’.

³⁵ On Green Parties in particular, see Dumont, Patrick and Bäck, Hanna, ‘Why so Few, and Why so Late? Green Parties and the Question of Governmental Participation’, European Journal of Political Research, forthcoming.Google Scholar

³⁶ See Dalton, Russell J. and Weldon, Steven A., ‘Public Images of Political Parties: A Necessary Evil?’, West European Politics, 28: 5 (2005), pp. 931–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar