This analysis of coalition politics in Western Europe is based on the most comprehensive data set ever employed in coalition studies exploring both coalitional and single-party countries and governments.

Indeed, sufficient explanations of most phenomena under study require independent variables from several of these categories. Comparative Politics is a series for students and teachers of political science that deals with contemporary issues in comparative government and politics. The General Editors are David M. Farrell, Jean Monnet Chair in European Politics and Head of School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester and Alfio Mastropaolo, University of Turin. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research.

1. Coalition Theory and Cabinet Governance: An Introduction
2. Bargaining, Transaction Costs, and Coalition Governance
3. The Empirical Study of Cabinet Governance
4. Uncertainty and Complexity in Cabinet Formation
5. Coalition Agreements and Cabinet Governance
6. Government Formation and Cabinet Type in Parliamentary Democracies
7. Portfolio Allocation
8. Conflict Management in Coalition Government
9. Cabinet Termination in Western Europe
10. Institutions, Chance and Choices: The Dynamics of Cabinet Survival in the Parliamentary Democracies of Western Europe (1945-1999)
11. Coalition Membership and Electoral Performance
12. Conclusion: Cabinet Governance in Parliamentary Democracies