Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores an alternative approach and examines different countries’ political parties in order to better understand their political culture and the issues of greatest contention within their societies. It illustrates how study of the parties vying for power provides insight into a country’s cultural values, societal divisions, and issues of greatest contention among its people. The book focuses on research topics such as coalition dynamics, political negotiating, and portfolio allocation. It describes the political parties in coalition governments and their parliamentary opposition to provide practical illustrations of many of the principles taught in comparative politics. The book presents a gap between introductory-level comparative politics texts and more advanced research on coalitions. It provides valuable background material for research on coalitions in parliamentary democracies and single-country comparative studies.