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Coalition Government

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Submitted By ecdw7
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1) Coalition government is one in which two or more parties take part in running a country. On paper it looks simple, but it is a whole lot more complicated. For example one issue that can arise is disagreement between the partners on their policies and proposals. In the case of the UK, Conservatives and Liberals sometimes disagree. An example is, the proposal of AV to be used in a general election, but the Conservatives disagreed. However in the end the two coalition partners agreed that they will hold a referendum.

2) One problem that might arise if the cabinet contained both Conservatives and Lib.Dems is that the government is not stable. It is very possible that the two partners may disagree on their policies and proposals. For example the Liberals opposed the further use of nuclear energy, but it was agreed between the leaderships of the two coalition partners that more nuclear power plants can be build. This can build conflicts between the two parties and result in government failure. Furthermore in the UK coalitions are formed in a time of crisis and the country may be seen by other international countries as weak and this can damage their international competitiveness and foreign investment, which are very important in order to keep the economy running. Furthermore coalition government is actually less democratic as the balance of power is inevitably held by the small parties who can barter their support for concessions from the main groups within the coalition.One possible example is the demand of constitutional reforms by the Liberal Democrats in the UK as their price of coalition support in a future hung parliament.

3) In the essay I shall discus for what reason and to what extent has the cabinet government declined in the UK. A cabinet government is a government in which the real executive power rests with a cabinet of ministers who are

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