Coalition is an alliance of organizations, persons or political parties to work together for a common goal. Coalitions may be arranged in any number of ways and can be permanent or temporary, single issue or multi-issue, centralized or decentralized, or geographically limited (e.g., a coalition of medical groups seeking a new drug policy). Coalitions can also be organized around different levels of intensity, participation and cooperation. Campaign coalitions are characterized by high intensity and long-term cooperation; federations have less intense involvement with the potential for future collaboration and primary commitment remaining with members’ organizations; instrumental coalitions have low intensity with no formal structure or agreement; and event-based coalitions are short-term and focused on an immediate objective.
In politics, coalition governments usually result when two or more major political parties fail to get a majority of the votes in an election and need to find another way of forming a government. In Britain, this situation has only arisen twice – after the 1997 election when the Labour Party and Liberal Democrat parties formed a pact to form a minority government; and after the 2010 general election when the Conservative and Labor parties shared power with the National and Country Liberal parties.
In the United States, state and local governments often work with coalitions to pass legislation that can’t be passed by a single party. At the federal level in Australia, coalitions involving the liberal Liberal, conservative National, and centrist Country Liberal parties have formed government on several occasions since 1978.
About the Author
