A Crowded Room? The Destabilising Effect of Oversized Coalitions on Cabinet Survival in Southern Europe

To cite the article:

Marco Improta (2023): A Crowded Room? The Destabilising Effect of Oversized Coalitions on Cabinet Survival in Southern Europe, Mediterranean Politics, DOI: 10.1080/13629395.2023.2170033

The article, published on Mediterranean Politics, can be accessed here

Abstract

Political science has traditionally devoted considerable attention to the issue of cabinet survival in several political systems. This study contributes to this established research agenda by investigating the dynamics of cabinet survival in Southern Europe – a region where cabinets have recently been striving to remain in office until the constitutionally mandated end of term. The study tests the impact of cabinet attributes, economic conditions, and the government formation process on different types of cabinet termination. It performs Cox survival analysis based on an original longitudinal multilevel dataset comprising 165 cabinets in six countries: Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain. The results show that oversized coalitions significantly increase the risk of cabinet termination, demonstrating the ingrained destabilizing effect of such ruling configurations on cabinet survival in Southern Europe. The study discusses the implications of this finding for the quality of democracy in this politically-sensitive region.

Marco Improta (Napoli, 1995) è postdoctoral researcher presso l'Università di Siena. Ha conseguito il dottorato di ricerca in Politics presso la LUISS Guido Carli. È stato Visiting Research Fellow presso il Department of Political Science della Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Visiting PhD presso il Department of Politics and International Relations della University of Oxford e Visiting Researcher presso il Centro de Estudios Politicos y Constitucionales del Ministerio de la Presidencia, Governo di Spagna, Madrid. I suoi principali interessi di ricerca riguardano i governi e la rappresentanza politica in prospettiva comparata. Ha pubblicato articoli su riviste scientifiche internazionali e nazionali, tra cui West European Politics, Political Studies, Parliamentary Affairs, Journal of Legislative Studies, Mediterranean Politics, European Politics and Society, Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche, Quaderni di Scienza Politica, Italian Political Science, Journal of Contemporary European Research, Italian Journal of Electoral Studies. È inoltre autore di contributi pubblicati in volumi. È membro del CISE, del CIRCaP e di varie associazioni scientifiche nazionali e internazionali tra cui IPSA, MPSA, CES, SISP, SISE, ISPSA ed ECPR.