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Coalition Governance and Foreign Policy Decision-Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Kai Oppermann,
Klaus Brummer and
Niels van Willigen
Kai Oppermann*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QE, UK
Klaus Brummer*
Affiliation:
Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Universitätsallee 1, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Niels van Willigen*
Affiliation:
Institute of Political Science, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, Postbus 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, Netherlands
*
E-mail: k.oppermann@sussex.ac.uk
E-mail: klaus.brummer@ku.de
E-mail: willigen@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
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Abstract

This article explores processes of coalition governance in foreign policy. Specifically, it argues that such processes are shaped by two interrelated dimensions of coalition set-up: first, the allocation of the foreign ministry to the senior or a junior coalition partner and, second, the degree of policy discretion which is delegated to that ministry. Bringing these two dimensions together, the article distinguishes four types of coalition arrangement for the making of foreign policy, which are expected to have predictable implications for the process of foreign policy-making and, ultimately, for the foreign policy outputs of multi-party coalitions and their quality.

Keywords

coalition governanceforeign policydecision-makingportfolio allocationpolicy discretion

Information

Type
Symposium
Information
European Political Science , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , December 2017, pp. 489 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 European Consortium for Political Research

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Footnotes

*

Corresponding author.

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