When Partners Disagree: A Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Coalition Politics on Foreign Policy.

This paper investigates how the dynamics of multiparty decision making in parliamentary coalition governments affect international conflict, peace, and the stability of governments. It examines the conflicting expectations on the role of coalition cabinet politics in decisions affecting governments? foreign relations in Dutch, Japanese, and Turkish comparative case studies of foreign policy in the Netherlands, Japan, and Turkey from the 1980s to the present day. These cases are all instances of disagreement between coalition partners over foreign policy and focus on the way in which coalition politics affected the policymaking process, the foreign policy decisions, and the quality of the decision making process. This paper is part of a broader project that is cross-national, multi-methodological, and focuses on the policymaking process to examine the assumptions often made about coalition politics. Its purpose is to provide an analytical framework on the conditions under which coalition cabinets are effective and the factors that affect how coalition politics influences foreign policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]