ABSTRACT
Coalition agreements establish a relationship between parties taking office together. The effects of coalition agreements on coalition peace and policy may differ according to the types of compromises. The issues debated during the government formations of 1973 and 1977 in Belgium, and 1981, 1982 and 1994 in the Netherlands included some conflicts inherited from the previous coalition. The Lubbers I government in the Netherlands in 1982 inherited a massive budgetary problem from the Van Agt II government, which had ended early in party political deadlock. The coalition agreement of the Tindemans V government had a large proportion of explicit compromises, made mostly on regionalization policy, and the early collapse of the five party governments over this issue implied a very low performance in implementation. Procedural implicit compromises mostly freeze policy making, but the desired peace mostly needs renegotiation. Parties involved in negotiations on a coalition agreement may use high discount rates, minimize costs and thus make cheap deals.
