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The Party Composition of Government in Western Democracies, 1950–2015

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Parties, Governments and Elites

Part of the book series: Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft ((VGPO))

Abstract

This chapter reviews major indicators of the party composition of governments in 21 advanced democratic nations from 1950 to 2015, discusses strength and weaknesses of the various measures, and portrays their estimates of the extent to which various families of parties have participated in government in this period. Using Social Democratic parties’ participation in office as an example, the analysis of longitudinal and cross-sectional data reveals major correlates and causes of the variations in the partisan complexion of governments in advanced democracies in the post-World War II period. The data analysis suggests that five variables account for a substantial proportion of the share of cabinet seats controlled by Social Democratic parties from 1950 to 2015: historical participation in government from the end of World War I until 1950, membership in the Nordic family of nations, cleavage systems which favour centre-left parties, the social democratic vote, and proportional representation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Politische Wissenschaft, Bergheimerstraße 58, 69115, Heidelberg, Deutschland

    Prof. Dr. Manfred G Schmidt

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  1. Prof. Dr. Manfred G Schmidt
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Correspondence to Manfred G Schmidt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Politik- und Kommunikation, Universität Greifswald, Salzburg, Austria

    Philipp Harfst

  2. Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ina Kubbe

  3. Politikwissemschaft, Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Thomas Poguntke

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Schmidt, M.G. (2017). The Party Composition of Government in Western Democracies, 1950–2015. In: Harfst, P., Kubbe, I., Poguntke, T. (eds) Parties, Governments and Elites. Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17446-0_10

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