ON THE FORMATION OF POLITICAL COALITIONS

The paper analyses the process of coalition formation among political parties using game-theoretic concepts. Two different motives determini ng that process are distinguished: the parties' preferences over alter native policies and the politicians' desire to get into office. Based on these motives, two alternative models of coalition formation are su ggested. It is shown that in situations involving only a few political parties - such as, e.g., in Germany or Austria - office-seeking consi derations may generate stable coalition structures. On the other hand, if the number of parties becomes too large, stable solutions exist on ly under rather restrictive additional conditions. Several examples ar e provided illustrating the theoretical implications of the analysis.