National Parliamentary Institutions and Government Strength

Abstract

Spain’s minority governments faced favorable partisan bargaining circumstances in multilevel perspective, with some variation. While the majority-building strategies they employed do not account for their governing capacity, the partisan bargaining circumstances appear to influence the choice of strategy. This chapter examines how the national parliamentary institutions affect governing capacity. The parliamentary institutions in Spain strengthen all governments, yet in ways that are particularly useful for minority governments. Spain’s national parliamentary institutions further strengthen the government’s bargaining power and create incentives (or reduce the costs) for opposition parties to cooperate with it.¹