Coalition governments in Turkey: "Office-Seeking or Policy-Pursuing?" A structural approach

Abstract

This study examines Turkish coalition government experiences to find answer to the question of whether they were office-seeking coalitions or policyoriented ones. Accordingly, the theoretical framework is proposed to investigate all aspects of the coalitions during the fonnation and maintenance stages. Situational, compatibility, and motivational variables are taken into account as the factors that influence the composition of the coalitions, their duration and success. Four European country experiences are elaborated briefly so as to show significance of the party system for coalition building and coalition success. After the application of these three variables to the Turkish coalition experiences distribution of seats among the coalition partners and common problems that they faced are also elucidated with reference to the composition of coalitions.