Governing abroad coalition politics and foreign policy in Europe

From Austria to New Zealand, coalition governments often pave the road to foreign policy. In Western Europe, nearly 90 percent of postwar governments include two or more political parties. Israel, the Middle East's only consolidated democracy according to many, has never experienced single-part...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Oktay, Sibel
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press 2022©2022, 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: JSTOR Open Access Books - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 03730nam a2200373 u 4500
001 EB002055793
003 EBX01000000000000001199459
005 00000000000000.0
007 tu|||||||||||||||||||||
008 220823 r ||| eng
020 |z 9780472075409 
020 |a 9780472075409 
050 4 |a JN94.A979 
100 1 |a Oktay, Sibel 
245 0 0 |a Governing abroad  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b coalition politics and foreign policy in Europe  |c Sibel Oktay 
246 3 1 |a Coalition politics and foreign policy in Europe 
260 |a Ann Arbor  |b University of Michigan Press  |c 2022©2022, 2022 
300 |a xvi, 237 pages  |b illustrations 
505 0 |a Includes bibliographical references and index 
505 0 |a Why Study Coalition Governments in Foreign Policy? -- The Constraints and Opportunities of Coalition Foreign Policy: Moving beyond the Dichotomy -- From Parties to Coalitions: Explaining Foreign Policy Commitments in Post Cold War Europe -- Reaching across the Aisle: Danish Commitments during the 1990 and 2003 Wars in Iraq -- When Foreign Policy Spills Over: Dutch Support for the 2003 Iraq War -- Loyal to Whom? Finland's Decision to Join the Eurozone -- Governing Together, Abroad: Conclusions and Implication 
651 4 |a Europe / Foreign relations / 1945- 
653 |a POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Parties 
653 |a POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / European 
653 |a POLITICAL SCIENCE / General 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b ZDB-39-JOA  |a JSTOR Open Access Books 
028 5 0 |a 10.3998/mpub.10192051 
773 0 |t OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) 
773 0 |t Books at JSTOR: Open Access 
776 |z 9780472902859 
776 |z 0472902857 
856 4 0 |u https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.10192051  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 324.2094 
520 |a From Austria to New Zealand, coalition governments often pave the road to foreign policy. In Western Europe, nearly 90 percent of postwar governments include two or more political parties. Israel, the Middle East's only consolidated democracy according to many, has never experienced single-party rule in its history. Even the United Kingdom, known for its long streak of single-party rule, now navigates multiparty cabinets. Coalitions are everywhere, but we still have little understanding of how they act in foreign affairs. History shows that coalitions can sometime engage in powerful international commitments such as participating in military operations, but at other times, they postpone their decisions, water down their policy positions, or promise to do less than they otherwise would. What explains these differences in behavior?Governing Abroad unpacks the little-known world of coalition governments to find out. Oktay argues that the specific constellation of parties in government explains why some coalitions can make more assertive foreign policy decisions than others. Building on the rich literatures in political science on coalitions, legislatures, and voting behavior, the book weaves together sophisticated statistical analyses of foreign policy events across thirty European countries alongside in-depth case studies from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Finland. It brings political parties back into the study of foreign policy, demonstrating that the size of the coalition, the ideological proximity of the governing parties, and their relationship with the parliamentary opposition together influence the government's ability to act in the international arena. This book challenges our existing perceptions about the constraints and weaknesses of coalition governments. It sheds new light on the conditions that allow them to act decisively abroad