Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T16:53:28.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Presthus Debacle: Intraparty Politics and Bargaining Failure in Norway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Kaare Strøm
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego

Abstract

Bargaining failure has been neglected in the study of interparty coalitions. I examine the unsuccessful attempt by three Norwegian nonsocialist parties to defeat a Labor party minority government in June 1987 when the majority opposition twice failed to agree on a simple vote to that end. This failure of coalition bargaining was facilitated by incomplete information, intraparty constraints and misdelegation of authority, and by anticipation of the impending parliamentary recess. Despite these complexities, simple noncooperative games like the war of attrition can shed considerable light on this and other unsuccessful negotiations. The “Presthus debacle” demonstrates that political parties bring many different objectives to the bargaining table and that the trade-offs between these objectives vary according to organizational and institutional conditions.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1994

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

Austen-Smith, David, and Banks, Jeffrey. 1988. “Elections, Coalitions, and Legislative Outcomes.” American Political Science Review 82:405–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axelrod, Robert. 1970. Conflict of Interest. Chicago: Markham.Google Scholar
Bakke, Bente. 1990. På Bakerste Benk. Oslo: Aschehoug.Google Scholar
Baron, David P. 1991. “A Spatial Theory of Government Formation in Parliamentary Systems.” American Political Science Review 85:137–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, David P. 1993. “Government Formation and Endogenous Parties.” American Political Science Review 87:3447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, Ian, and Laver, Michael J.. 1986. “Office Seeking and Policy Pursuit in Coalition Theory.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 11:485506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, Randall L. 1987. “Reputation and Legislative Leadership.” Public Choice 55:81119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W. 1987. “Electoral Equilibrium under Alternative Voting Institutions.” American Journal of Political Science 31:82108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and Kernell, Samuel. 1991. “Conclusion.” In The Politics of Divided Government, ed. Cox, Gary W. and Kernell, Samuel. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Dagbladet, 17 June, 1987.Google Scholar
De Swaan, Abram. 1973. Coalition Theories and Cabinet Formation. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Dodd, Lawrence 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
Elster, Jon. 1984. Ulysses and the Sirens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fudenberg, Drew, and Tirole, Jean. 1991. Game Theory. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.Google Scholar
Geddes, Barbara. 1990. “How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics.” In Political Analysis, vol. 2, ed. Stimson, James A.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Kreps, David M. 1990. “Corporate Culture and Economic Theory.” In Perspectives on Positive Political Economy, ed. Alt, James E. and Shepsle, Kenneth A.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Laver, Michael J., and Schofield, Norman. 1990. Multiparty Government: The Politics of Coalition in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Laver, Michael J., and Shepsle, Kenneth A.. 1990a. “Coalitions and Cabinet Government.” American Political Science Review 84:873–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, Michael J., and Shepsle, Kenneth A.. 1990b. “Government Coalitions and Intraparty Politics.” British Journal of Political Science 20:489507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leiserson, Michael. 1968. “Factions and Coalitions in One-Party Japan.” American Political Science Review 62:770–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luebbert, Gregory M. 1983. “Coalition Theory and Government Formation in Multiparty Democracies,” Comparative Politics 15:235–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luebbert, Gregory M. 1986. Comparative Democracy: Policymaking and Governing Coalitions in Europe and Israel. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norvik, Erling. 1990. Hiv Dokker i Kalosjan. Oslo: Cappelen.Google Scholar
Pridham, Geoffrey, ed. 1986. Coalitional Behaviour in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmusen, Eric. 1989. Games and Information: An Introduction to Game Theory. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1962. The Theory of Political Coalitions. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1980. “Implications from the Disequilibrium of Majority Rule for the Study of Institutions.” American Political Science Review 74:432–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rommetvedt, Hilmar. 1987. “Velgerbevegelser i fire faser.” Folkets Framtid, 30 10.Google Scholar
Rommetvedt, Hilmar. 1991. “Partiavstand og partikoalisjoner.” Ph.D. diss., University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Selten, Reinhard. 1975. “Reexamination of the Perfectness Concept for Equilibrium Points in Extensive Games.” International Journal of Game Theory 4:2555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stortingstidende. 1986–87, pp. 4082–1214.Google Scholar
Strøm, Kaare. 1990a. “A Behavioral Theory of Competitive Political Parties.” American Journal of Political Science 34:565–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strøm, Kaare. 1990b. Minority Government and Majority Rule. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Strøm, Kaare. 1993. “Competition Ruins the Good Life: Party Leadership in Norway.” European Journal of Political Research 24:317–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strøm, Kaare, Budge, Ian, and Laver, Michael J.. N.d. “Constraints on Government Formation in Multiparty Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Strøm, Kaare, and Leipart, Jørn Y.. 1993. “Policy, Institutions, and Coalition Avoidance: Norwegian Governments, 1945–1990.” American Political Science Review 87:870–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Michael. 1987. The Possibility of Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thomassen, Petter. 1991. En Regjerings Fall. Oslo: Cappelen.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, George. 1990. Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Willoch, Kåre I. 1990. Statsminister. Oslo: Schibsted.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.