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Government formation in presidentialism: Disentangling the combined effects of pre-electoral coalitions and legislative polarization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2024

Lucas Couto Open the ORCID record for Lucas Couto [Opens in a new window]
Lucas Couto*
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Lucas Couto is a PhD Student in the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University.
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Abstract

Recent research has shed light on the impact of pre-electoral coalitions on government formation in presidential democracies. However, the fact that pre-electoral coalitions are not automatically transformed into coalition cabinets has often gone under the radar. In this article, I argue that the importance of pre-electoral pacts for government formation depends on the degree of legislative polarization. When parties are distant from one another in the ideological spectrum, presidents face more difficulties in breaking away from the pre-electoral pact and rearranging their multiparty alliances. Conversely, when polarization is not pervasive, presidents have more leeway to build coalition cabinets different from the ones prescribed by pre-electoral coalitions. Drawing on a dataset of 13 Latin American countries, the results support my claim and suggest that the relationship between government formation and the concession of office benefits for pre-electoral coalition members is more nuanced than previously assumed.

Keywords

Coalitional presidentialismLatin Americagovernment formationpre-electoral coalitionspresidentialism
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , February 2025 , pp. 36 - 55
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of University of Miami

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