Machine generated contents note: Introduction. The political opportunities and constraints of
welfare state reform; 1. The welfare state: dynamic development, crisis, resilience, and …

This book analyses the historical development of job security regulations in Western Europe
from the establishment of freedom of contract in the 19th century until the heyday of two-tier …

In parliamentary democracies, elections distribute the seats in parliament, but who gets into
government and determines the policy agenda over the course of the legislative term is …

Most democracies are governed by coalitions, comprising multiple political parties with
conflicting policy positions. The prevalence of these governments poses a significant …

Under what conditions can cabinet ministers affect the government's policy agenda?
Existing literature provides conflicting answers to this question. In this article, I show that …

One of the most important decisions coalition partners make when forming a government is
the division of ministries. Ministerial portfolios provide the party in charge with considerable …

How does the institutional context affect government responses to fiscal austerity? Despite
the “institutional turn” in political science, we still possess an incomplete understanding of …

Comparative public policy is a blooming research area. It also suffers from some curious
blind spots. In this paper we discuss four of these:(1) the obsession with covariance, which …

Political parties are likely to hold differing views about employment protection legislation
(EPL). While pro-welfare parties could support EPL, pro-market parties might focus on …

What is the purpose of lengthy negotiations when a coalition government forms? Do they
make a difference in coalition policy‐making? Negotiations that produce policy agreements …