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Populist radical parties, pariahs, and coalition bargaining delays

Bäck, Hanna LU orcid ; Debus, Marc and Imre, Michael (2022) In Party Politics
Abstract

Most parliamentary democracies have seen a rise of populist radical parties during the past decades. Many countries have also experienced severely delayed government formation processes, with caretaker governments in office for extended periods of time. Are these delays related to the rise of radical parties? We argue that the rise of populist radical parties may prolong the bargaining process, due to the fact that these parties are often treated as pariahs by other parties during election campaigns, which creates a complex bargaining situation after the election. We evaluate this claim by studying 121 government formation processes in the German States from 1990 until 2021, using original data which includes statements made by parties... (More)

Most parliamentary democracies have seen a rise of populist radical parties during the past decades. Many countries have also experienced severely delayed government formation processes, with caretaker governments in office for extended periods of time. Are these delays related to the rise of radical parties? We argue that the rise of populist radical parties may prolong the bargaining process, due to the fact that these parties are often treated as pariahs by other parties during election campaigns, which creates a complex bargaining situation after the election. We evaluate this claim by studying 121 government formation processes in the German States from 1990 until 2021, using original data which includes statements made by parties during election campaigns. The findings show that a higher share of seats allocated to parties from the radical right and radical left results in an increasing amount of days until a new government is voted into office. We also find that when a party that has been characterized as being ‘non-coalitionable’ during the election campaign ends up among the negotiating parties, the government formation process is severely delayed. These findings suggest that the rise of populist radical parties may create severe challenges for parliamentary democracy.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
bargaining duration, coalition negotiations, pariah parties, political polarisation, populist radical parties
in
Party Politics
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85142842725
ISSN
1354-0688
DOI
10.1177/13540688221136109
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
28c7a2fe-82bd-4d0e-b7bf-69fc65ae222e
date added to LUP
2023-01-31 13:51:25
date last changed
2024-02-14 14:04:54
@article{28c7a2fe-82bd-4d0e-b7bf-69fc65ae222e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Most parliamentary democracies have seen a rise of populist radical parties during the past decades. Many countries have also experienced severely delayed government formation processes, with caretaker governments in office for extended periods of time. Are these delays related to the rise of radical parties? We argue that the rise of populist radical parties may prolong the bargaining process, due to the fact that these parties are often treated as pariahs by other parties during election campaigns, which creates a complex bargaining situation after the election. We evaluate this claim by studying 121 government formation processes in the German States from 1990 until 2021, using original data which includes statements made by parties during election campaigns. The findings show that a higher share of seats allocated to parties from the radical right and radical left results in an increasing amount of days until a new government is voted into office. We also find that when a party that has been characterized as being ‘non-coalitionable’ during the election campaign ends up among the negotiating parties, the government formation process is severely delayed. These findings suggest that the rise of populist radical parties may create severe challenges for parliamentary democracy.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bäck, Hanna and Debus, Marc and Imre, Michael}},
  issn         = {{1354-0688}},
  keywords     = {{bargaining duration; coalition negotiations; pariah parties; political polarisation; populist radical parties}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Party Politics}},
  title        = {{Populist radical parties, pariahs, and coalition bargaining delays}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13540688221136109}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/13540688221136109}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}