Minority Party Government and Independent MPs: A Comparative Analysis of Australia and Ireland. Issue 1 (23rd October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kefford, Glenn; Weeks, Liam
• Is Part Of: Parliamentary affairs. Volume 73:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 89
• Page End: 107
• Publication Date: 2018-10-23
• Subjects: Australia -- Ireland -- Minority Government -- Independents; Representative government and representation -- Periodicals; Legislative bodies -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Legislative bodies; Political science; Representative government and representation; Great Britain; Periodicals; Periodicals; 328.4105
• DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsy037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-2290

Abstract

Abstract: Minority government is becoming more common. With support declining for traditional parties and increasing for anti-establishment movements, government formation is becoming increasingly difficult in many jurisdictions. While minority government has been the subject of much normative debate, one type of minority arrangement that has not attracted much attention is that involving independent parliamentarians. Government in most countries tends to be party government, but in this article, we examine the experience in Australia and Ireland of independents supporting minority government. We assess the performance of these administrations in terms of their stability, their productivity and their electoral performance. We find that, contrary to expectation, minority government involving independents is not a recipe for instability nor necessarily results in an efficient parliament.