Showing papers on "Coalition government published in 1977"

Civil-Military Confrontation in Turkey: The 1973 Presidential Election

Abstract: Much has been written recently about the severe domestic problems which Turkey has been experiencing since 1970. Instability in the form of worker strikes, student demonstrations, parliamentary stalemate over reform measures, and above all, urban guerrilla terrorism prompted the armed forces to intervene in March 1971 and impose a nonpartisan coalition government in order to put an end to what they deemed “anarchy, fratricide and social and economic unrest.” The following month, at the instigation of the armed forces, a state of emergency was declared and martial law was instituted in eleven of Turkey's sixty-seven provinces. Thousands of suspected “anarchists” were arrested and stood trial, with the result that an uneasy calm returned to the surface of Turkish affairs. Many civilian politicians in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (GNA) were restive under martial law, how ever, decrying their loss of independent action and demanding a loosening of the tight military control.

The Effects of Coalition Government on Party Structure: The Case of the Conservative Party in B.C.

Abstract: The Liberal Party and the Conservative Party formed a coalition government in British Columbia in December 1941 following an election in which none of the political parties (Liberals, Conservatives, CCF) received a majority of the seats in the provincial legislature. The election resulted in twenty-one seats for the Liberals, twelve for the Conservatives, fourteen for the CCF, and one Labour candidate was elected. To form a government the Liberals and Conservatives entered into coalition. The governing alliance was forged for the purpose of achieving short-term objectives which both parties had in common. In the beginning, the coalition's objectives were (a) to prevent another immediate election and to achieve unity in provincial government when the nation's attention was primarily focused on the war crisis, and (b) to block the socialist CCF from coming to power through a split in the "free-enterprise vote" in the event of an early election. The two-party alliance enabled the Liberal Party to retain control of government and allowed the Conservatives to attain positions of power not possible without coalition. Because the cabinet is the centre of power in parliamentary government, a coalition was negotiated which distributed cabinet positions according to each party's proportion of legislative seats. The Liberals, with twenty-one seats, received five cabinet positions and the premiership. The Conservatives, the junior partner in coalition with twelve seats, received four cabinet positions. The ministries were weighted according to power and importance, and trade-offs were made accordingly; Finance, Labour and Agriculture went to the Liberals, while the Attorney-Generalship and Public Works went to the Conservatives. Both parties retained separate party caucuses and a joint "coalition caucus" was instituted to facilitate communication between the party units in the legislature. When, after one term in office, the party leaders decided to continue the coalition arrangement (the coalition lasted from 1941 to 1952), the two parties together drew up a joint campaign platform and adopted a procedure for the nomination and renomination of coalition candidates.