Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T00:37:27.945Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Who Gets What in Foreign Affairs? Explaining the Allocation of Foreign Ministries in Coalition Governments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2018

Kai Oppermann*
Affiliation:
Kai Oppermann, Department of Politics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
Klaus Brummer
Affiliation:
Klaus Brummer, Faculty of History and Social Science, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

In coalition governments, political parties are concerned not only with how many but also with which departments they control. The foreign ministry is among the most highly considered prizes in coalition negotiations. This article develops hypotheses to explain under which conditions the foreign ministry is likely to be allocated to a ‘junior coalition partner’. The factors that are hypothesized to affect the allocation are: the relative size of coalition parties; the proximity of their foreign policy positions; the party family of the junior coalition party; the salience of foreign policy to the coalition parties; and past allocations of the foreign ministry to junior coalition partners. Employing a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis, the article demonstrates that although the conjunction of the junior partner being relatively large and it having led the foreign ministry in the past is not sufficient by itself, those two factors are very influential in the junior partner being allocated the foreign ministry.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2018. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press

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

Albala, A (2017) Bicameralism and Coalition Cabinets in Presidential Polities: A Configurational Analysis of the Coalition Formation and Duration Processes. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 19(4), 735754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bäck, H, Debus, M and Dumont, P (2011) Who Gets What in Coalition Governments? Predictors of Portfolio Allocation in Parliamentary Democracies. European Journal of Political Research 50(4), 441478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bäck, H, Debus, M and Müller, WC (2016) Intra-party Diversity and Ministerial Selection in Coalition Governments. Public Choice 166(3–4), 355378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bågenholm, A, Deegan-Krause, K and Weeks, L (2015) Political Data in 2014. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook 54(1), 118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beasley, R and Kaarbo, J (2014) Explaining Extremity in the Foreign Policies of Parliamentary Democracies. International Studies Quarterly 58(4), 729740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berg-Schlosser, D, De Meur, G, Rihoux, B and Ragin, CC (2009) Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as an Approach. In Rihoux B and Ragin CC (eds), Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques. Los Angeles: Sage: 118.Google Scholar
Browne, EC and Feste, KA (1975) Qualitative Dimensions of Coalition Payoffs: Evidence from European Party Governments, 1945–1970. American Behavioral Scientist 18(4), 530555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browne, EC and Franklin, MN (1973) Aspects of Coalition Payoffs in European Parliamentary Democracies. American Political Science Review 67(2), 453469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, I and Keman, H (1990) Parties and Democracy: Coalition Formation and Government Functioning in Twenty States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Budge, I, Klingemann, H-D, Volkens, A, Bara, J and Tanenbaum, E (2001) Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments, 1945–1998. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Carroll, R and Cox, GW (2007) The Logic of Gamson’s Law: Pre-election Coalitions and Portfolio Allocations. American Journal of Political Science 51(2), 300313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ceron, A (2016) Inter-factional Conflicts and Government Formation: Do Party Leaders Sort Out Ideological Heterogeneity? Party Politics 22(6), 797808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutler, J, De Marchi, S, Gallop, M, Hollenbach, FM, Laver, M and Orlowski, M (2016) Cabinet Formation and Portfolio Distribution in European Multiparty Systems. British Journal of Political Science 46(1), 3143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Meur, G, Rihoux, B and Yamasaki, S (2009) Addressing the Critiques of QCA. In Rihoux B and Ragin CC (eds), Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques. Los Angeles: Sage: 147163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debus, M and Bräuninger, T (2009) Intra-party Factions and Coalition Bargaining in Germany. In Giannetti D and Benoit K (eds), Intra-party Politics and Coalition Governments in Parliamentary Democracies. London: Routledge: 121145.Google Scholar
Druckman, JN and Warwick, PV (2005) The Missing Piece: Measuring Portfolio Salience in Western European Parliamentary Democracies. European Journal of Political Research 44(1), 1742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ecker, A, Meyer, TM and Müller, WC (2015) The Distribution of Individual Cabinet Positions in Coalition Governments: A Sequential Approach. European Journal of Political Research 54(4), 802818.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenstock, J (2013) The Bureaucracy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Service, and Other Government Departments. In Cooper AF, Heine J and Thakur R (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 106121.Google Scholar
Hagan, JD (1993) Political Opposition and Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Hagan, JD, Everts, PP, Fukui, H and Stempel, JD (2001) Foreign Policy by Coalition: Deadlock, Compromise, and Anarchy. International Studies Review 3(2), 169216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, C (2016) Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century, 2nd edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hocking, B and Spence, D (eds) (2002) Foreign Ministries in the European Union: Integrating Diplomats. Basingstoke: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaarbo, J (2012) Coalition Politics and Cabinet Decision Making: A Comparative Analysis of Foreign Policy Choices. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaarbo, J (2017) Coalition Politics, International Norms, and Foreign Policy: Multiparty Decision-making Dynamics in Comparative Perspective. International Politics 54(6), 669682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaarbo, J and Beasley, R (2008) Taking it to the Extreme: The Effect of Coalition Cabinets on Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy Analysis 4(1), 6781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koenig-Archibugi, M (2004) Explaining Government Preferences for Institutional Change in EU Foreign and Security Policy. International Organization 58(1), 137174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, M and Hunt, BW (1992) Policy and Party Competition. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Laver, M and Schofield, N (1998) Multiparty Government: The Politics of Coalition in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, M and Shepsle, KA (1996) Making and Breaking Governments. Cabinets and Legislatures in Parliamentary Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, NC, Stevenson, R, Tromborg, MW and Fortunato, D (2017) Gamson’s Law and Voters’ Perceptions of Portfolio Allocation. European Journal of Political Research 56(4), 912940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maatsch, A (2014) Are We All Austerians Now? An Analysis of National Parliamentary Parties’ Positioning on Anti-crisis Measures in the Eurozone. Journal of European Public Policy 21(1), 96115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maoz, Z and Russett, B (1993) Normative and Structural Causes of Democratic Peace, 1946–1986. American Political Science Review 87(3), 624638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, LW and Vanberg, G (2004) Policing the Bargain: Coalition Government and Parliamentary Scrutiny. American Journal of Political Science 48(1), 1327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mello, P (2012) Parliamentary Peace or Partisan Politics? Democracies’ Participation in the Iraq War. Journal of International Relations and Development 15(3), 420453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, WC and Strøm, K (2000) Coalition Governance in Western Europe: An Introduction. In Müller WC and Strøm K (eds), Coalition Governments in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 131.Google Scholar
Oppermann, K and Viehrig, H (2009) The Public Salience of Foreign and Security Policy in Britain, Germany and France. West European Politics 32(5), 925942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppermann, K, Kaarbo, J and Brummer, K (2017a) Introduction: Coalition Politics and Foreign Policy. European Political Science 16(4), 457462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppermann, K, Brummer, K and van Willigen, N (2017b) Coalition Governance and Foreign Policy Decision-making. European Political Science 16(4), 489501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raabe, J and Linhart, E (2014) Disentangling the Value of a Ministry: Party Leaders’ Evaluations of German State Ministries. West European Politics. 37(5), 10651086.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raabe, J and Linhart, E (2015) Does Substance Matter? A Model of Qualitative Portfolio Allocation and Application to German State Governments Between 1990 and 2010. Party Politics 21(3), 481492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ragin, CC (1987) The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ragin, CC (2000) Fuzzy-set Social Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ragin, CC (2008) Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rathbun, BC (2004) Partisan Interventions: European Party Politics and Peace Enforcement in the Balkans. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Raunio, T and Wagner, W (2017) Towards Parliamentarisation of Foreign and Security Policy? West European Politics 40(1), 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rihoux, B and De Meur, G (2009) Crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA). In Rihoux B and Ragin CC (eds), Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques. Los Angeles: Sage: 3368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sager, F and Rielle, Y (2013) Sorting Through the Garbage Can: Under What Conditions do Governments Adopt Policy Programs? Policy Sciences 46(1), 121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, CQ (2016) Real Differences and Overlooked Similarities: Set-theoretic Methods in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Political Studies 49(6), 781792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, CQ and Wagemann, C (2012) Set-theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volkens, A, Lehmann, P, Mattieß, T, Merz, N, Regel, S and Werner, A (2015) The Manifesto Data Collection: Manifesto Project (MRG/CMP/MARPOR), Version 2015a. Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung.Google Scholar
Wagner, W, Herranz-Surrallés, A, Kaarbo, J and Ostermann, F (2017) The Party Politics of Legislative–Executive Relations in Security and Defence Policy. West European Politics 40(1), 2041.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, PV (1996) Coalition Government Membership in West European Parliamentary Democracies. British Journal of Political Science 26(4), 471499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, PV and Druckman, JN (2001) Portfolio Salience and the Proportionality of Payoffs in Coalition Governments. British Journal of Political Science 31(4), 627649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, PV and Druckman, JN (2006) The Portfolio Allocation Paradox: An Investigation into the Nature of a Very Strong but Puzzling Relationship. European Journal of Political Research 45(4), 635665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zürn, M (2014) The Politicization of World Politics and its Effects: Eight Propositions. European Political Science Review 6(1), 4771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Oppermann and Brummer supplementary material

Oppermann and Brummer supplementary material 1

Download Oppermann and Brummer supplementary material(File)
File 15.9 KB