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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 08 Feb 2011 : 10:08:24
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HOPEFULLY THESE NOTES WOULD HELP ON SENSITIZATION FOR COALITION BUILDING, CONFLICT RESOLUTIONS, SET A TRUCE FOR ALL OPPONENTS TOWARDS FORMING ANY PROSPECTIVE FORMIDABLE UNITED FRONT
PART 1: OVERVIEW - THE NEED AND BASIS FOR COALITION
- Political deadlock is a situation where competing political parties have equal representation in the political system making it impossible for decisions to be made.
- A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant. Possibly described as a joining of 'factions', usually those with overlapping interests rather than opposing
- It can also be bad, means-oriented arrangement, especially a temporary one, that allows distinct people or organizational entities to pool resources and combine efforts in order to effect change. The combination of such persons or entities into one body, as a union, variously organized and structured, but generally less formal than a covenant. Although persons and groups form coalitions for many and varied reasons, the most common purpose is to combat a common threat or to take advantage of a certain opportunity; hence, the often-temporary nature of coalitions. The common threat or existence of opportunity is what gives rise to the coalition and allows it to exist.Such collaborative processes can gain political influence and potentially initiate social movements.
- According to Sidney Tarrow, four elements are necessary to maintain a coalition:
1. Members must frame the issue that brings them together with a common interest.
2. Members’ trust in each other and believe that their peers have a credible commitment to the common issue(s) and/or goal(s).
3. The coalition must have a mechanism(s) to manage differences in language, orientation, tactics, culture, ideology, etc. between and among the collective’s members (especially in transnational coalitions).
4. The shared incentive to participate and, consequently, benefit.
- Coalitions manifest in a variety of forms, types and terms of duration:
1. Campaign coalitions with high intensity and long-term cooperation.
2. Federations, characterized by relatively lower degree of involvement, intensity and participation, involving cooperation of long duration, but with members’ primary commitment remaining with their own entities.
3. Instrumental coalitions, involving low-intensity involvement without a foundation to mediate conflict.
4. Event-based coalitions that have a high level of involvement and the potential for future collaboration.
- Coalitions exist as a strategic or tactical mechanism to address a critical or dire political vacuum constitutionally.
- Coalitions are effective in forming a government.
- It is also formed in times of crisis such as war.
PART 2: A TYPICAL CASE - How is a coalition government formed?
- When a election winning party does not have enough of the % vote to govern/rule on its own - that party will look for another party (that they can get along with) who with there % vote (added together) will give the winning party an overall % 'working' majority.
- When that happens all sorts of deals are done 'behind the scenes' - the smaller party demanding this or that for there agreement - incuding positions in the ruling winning parties government appointments.
- Its always trouble when this happens because if the minority party withdraws its support (as sometimes they do) the ruling government party will collapse and another election will have too be called.!!
- All government parties have to have a working % majority - if not they will be out voted on issues all the time and will not survive.
- To have strong coalitions, it is necessary that political parties must moderate their ideologies and programme.
- This situation arises, if no party on its own can achieve majority in the Parliament (during / for any given elections).
- A Coalition government means alliances of several parties.
- Coalitions have proven to be an important strategy for social change in many contexts. Yet their power is variable, dependent on the context in which they are organizing and the strategies used by the organizers.
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Edited by - kobo on 09 Feb 2011 14:42:28 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2011 : 11:40:19
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PART 3: What are Coalition governments – EXAMPLES
- A coalition government is a form of government formed by two or more political parties with the inability of one political party to win over whelming majority or land slide victory at the polls.
- A coalition government is cabinet of parliamentary government in which several parties co-operate, this usually happens if no political party can achieve a majority in Parliament (mainly post elections).
- A coalition government is where two or more political parties join together in parliament/assembly to run the government and agree on a policy programme. Examples are UK where Tory conservatives and Liberal democrats agreed post-election or after the elections to run a coalition government; Wales where Labour and Plaid Cymru have agreed a set of policies, but still campaign against each other outside of the national assembly and Luxembourg where the CSV and LSAP work together for the good of The country (Luxembourg.)
- Coalition governments depends on the constitution for each country respectively.
- Coalition governments can be weak\strong, may suffer lots of criticisms and prone to dis-integrate easily.
- The most obvious criticism of Proportional Representation is that it could form coalition governments.
- This is seen by some as a majorly bad thing as it supposedly does not allow ‘strong’ government. Having more than one party in charge of decision making could cause a lot of arguments between the leaders of the country as the top ministers may have opposing political ideologies and views.
- It could also mean that it is very hard to get policy through the governmental process meaning government could be overall less effective in the running of the country.
- It could also cause an overly expanded Cabinet to cater for everyone’s needs in the Government, which could lead to much needless expenditure. There could also be many arguments, which cause Cabinets to split and some important policy to be suspended to do the impossible task of keeping everybody happy.
- However a Coalition government is better than no government. But many compromises will have to be made.
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Edited by - kobo on 11 Feb 2011 10:58:47 |
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