In various countries with multi-party systems, there is the concept of government coalitions. As I understand it, it is similar to cartel agreements, which we prosecute under criminal law.
- But why are coalitions legal and needed?
- Why does the multi-party system in Switzerland work without coalitions?
I’m an American so take what I say with a hefty grain of salt but in multi-party systems you have a wider array of political parties to align with that are typically distinct on various issues that sometimes overlap with other parties. Coalitions allow for flexibility in party choice despite some parties having policy preference overlaps and avoid devolving into a 2 party system.
Let’s borrow the major alignments of the political compass just for an example and assume that the parties ideally represent the stereotypes of the political compass, let’s say we have the LibLeft party, and AuthRight party each making up about 25% of the legislative body after elections (they almost never work together), and the AuthLeft and LibRight party making up about 20% each (they also almost never work together) and a true centrist party with 10% (they’ll work with anyone provided its not too extreme). In order to pass a bill, you need to collect an arbitrary majority of votes to pass a piece of legislation, let’s call it at 55% for our fictional parliamentary congress.
None of the parties alone have enough votes to pass legislation, they need to work with other parties to get legislation passed. So someone in LibRight (20%) has a bill they want passed they need help from other parties to make that happen. Rather than just guess what other parties want in a bill, the LibRight rep, might meet up with a Centrist (10%), a LibLeft (25%) and an AuthRight (25%l rep to try and write a bill that will satisfy each party, now you’ve formed a coalition. You work together to draft a bill that will include something each party wants. It won’t be easy because LibLeft and AuthRight rarely align on policy. Then you bring your bill to the floor to vote and if you crafted it well enough the combined votes of LibRight, LibLeft, AuthRight and Centrists will be enough to cross that 55% requirement to pass legislation by a wide margin, assuming the entire party will vote as a united bloc (if they don’t vote as a united bloc then the margin will be much closer but still likely reaching that 55%).