The coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Clean Government Party (CGP) led by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe maintained relatively high approval rates (by Japanese standards) throughout the year and, in November, Abe made the somewhat unexpected decision to call a snap election. The general election for the House of Representatives on 14 December resulted in a further four-year mandate for Abe.

The year 2014 saw two elections in Latvia held against the background of an escalating war in Ukraine and a corresponding securitisation of political discourse that also contained signs of a leftward drift. The year also produced Latvia’s first female prime minister.

The year 2014 was rather eventful for Lithuania with presidential elections, elections to the European Parliament and a referendum on selling land to foreigners. The elections, however, did not cause any radical changes in the government or in the party system. Dalia Grybauskaitė was re-elected to the Presidency, and the referendum failed due to a low turnout.

The year 2014 was characterised by the European elections and the difficult first steps of the three-party coalition headed by the Liberal Xavier Bettel. Some popular resentment for having excluded the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) from government, the poor election returns for the governing parties at the European elections, critiques regarding its governing methods as well as its first budget cuts, and growing tensions in view of the referendum planned for 2015, all contributed to give the new government a very short honeymoon period. One year after the early election of 2013 an opinion poll indicated that only 36 per cent of voters still trusted the coalition in power – a confidence rate in steep decline from December 2013 when it had been measured 63 per cent for the newly appointed cabinet (Luxemburger Wort 2014).

In its second year of office following long years in opposition, Labour (PL) governed energetically and with calculation, its fundamental political challenge being to hold together the coalition of disparate sectors of the electorate, some won over from the rival political camp, which gave it its landslide victory the year before. The PL proved to be as skilful in political balancing between voter groups as in fending off volleys from the Nationalist Party (PN), itself trying very hard to find its own balance between being an effective opposition and not seeming to be a negative one.

The Rutte II cabinet had been installed in 2012, based on a coalition of the Liberal Party and the Labour Party, which between them had won a majority in the lower house of parliament (Tweede Kamer). Lacking the support of a majority in the upper house, the government effectively operated as a minority coalition, striking deals with opposition parties to ensure a majority in the Eerste Kamer. In 2014, the cabinet was tested a number of times: the cabinet lost two members; support for the government parties was tested in the European elections; the governing Labour Party lost two seats in the lower house due to an internal conflict; and finally, a major healthcare reform was vetoed in the Senate by dissenting members of government parties, bringing the cabinet to the brink of crisis.

Election years are always tumultuous, but 2014 was especially rocky in New Zealand politics. Scandals and controversies dominated the whole year, testing a popular government at the end of its second term.Despite all that was thrown at the government, it emerged victorious from the general election, albeit with a tarnished reputation.

The political year 2014 was a relatively quiet one in Norway. It saw no national or local elections, and the government consisting of the Conservatives and the Progress Party stayed in office without any changes in composition. Popular support for the government did, however, decrease substantially, and the loss in the opinion polls was particularly large for the Progress Party.

This was an eventful year in Polish politics, marked by a change of government, elections of deputies to the European Parliament and the regional and local authorities, as well as by a major political scandal. All these events gained additional weight as they took place at a time when major players in the Polish political arena were jockeying for the best starting positions before the presidential and parliamentary contests scheduled for 2015.

In 2014 Portugal celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the Revolution of Carnations. The most important event of the year was that the Portuguese government was able to complete the programme of austerity measures with the Troika in May. Moreover, the European Parliament elections were a major test for the government, which was punished by the electorate for its austerity policies.

Romania had a busy year politically, with elections for both the European Parliament and the presidency. Political instability led to cabinet reshuffles, as well as numerous party mergers and reorganisations,while the anti-corruption campaign registered significant progress when many state dignitaries were investigated or convicted.

Since the 2012 parliamentary elections, party politics has been shaped by the asymmetry between a dominant prime minister and his party, on the one hand, and a divided and weak opposition, on the other. However, the 2014 presidential election suggested that Robert Fico’s support in the country has reached its limit, and Fico changed his previous (i.e. from the years 2006–2010) confrontational style towards the media, the judiciary, nongovernmental organisations and ethnic minorities, opting instead for a more cultivated image as a protector of the national interests, a promoter of European integration and – most importantly – a trustworthy guardian of the poorer strata of society

The year 2014 was an important one for Slovenia because several elections, along with one referendum, were held. Declining trust in the main political institutions and satisfaction with democracy on the part of the electorate continued (Politbarometer 2014). Therefore, the electoral success of new parties (at the national level) and independent candidates (in the local elections) did not come as a huge surprise.

The political year was dominated by the European elections. Its results led to the resignation of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) leader and the emergence of a left populist party. Moreover, several ministers resigned for different reasons. Furthermore, the close result of the referendum in Scotland moved the Catalan government to hold a popular consultation with no democratic validity.

The political year 2014 was dominated by European and parliamentary elections, a change of government and a serious crisis for the new government shortly after taking office. Above all, events in 2014 highlighted what seems to be a new era of instability in Swedish politics.

In 2014, political debates in Switzerland were dominated by popular plebiscites, particularly those concerning migration issues. The success of the ‘Against mass immigration’ initiative in the popular plebiscite on 9 February fundamentally called Switzerland’s relationship with the EU into question, and led throughout the year to considerable insecurity not only in the economy, but in the wider society and the political realm as well.

Two major political events dominated politics in the United Kingdom in 2014. First, elections to the European Parliament were won by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP); this was the first time a national election had been won by a party other than Labour or the Conservatives since 1910. Second, a referendum was held in Scotland on the question of whether it should become an independent country. While voters rejected independence, the result raised many questions about Scotland’s future relationship with the United Kingdom, the answers to which were far from being resolved by the end of the year. Beyond these major events, coalition tensions were present as in previous years but this time over education, housing and communications data policies. In UK-EU relations, the government was largely isolated in its attempts to prevent Jean-Claude Juncker becoming President of the European Commission, and the government made changes to EU migrants’ access to social welfare benefits in an attempt to make the United Kingdom a less attractive destination for those from other EU countries.

The major event in American politics in 2014 was the mid-term congressional election. The Republican success in gaining a majority in the Senate and increasing their majority in the House led to media speculation about a weak lame-duck Presidency, but ironically appears also to have liberated the President to be more assertive in his use of executive authority.