Research on coalitional behaviour in parliamentary democracies shows progress from conventional and static studies of single coalition processes at a single point in time to more dynamic approaches that allow the exploring of more interactive processes linking together the behaviour of one coalition with elections and the subsequent process of forming a new coalition. In addition, novel possibilities are available for studying the relationship between coalitional behaviour and the state of the economy or a change in international relations. Such fresh approaches are needed in new democratic countries like Slovenia where a number of internal and external factors determine the formation, duration and collapse of cabinets. In addition to the electoral threshold, the insufficient consolidation of political parties and inconsistent coalitional leadership, external factors like the global economic crisis and the policies of supranational organisations (EU, ECB) have had an even greater effect on the efficiency and duration of Slovenian coalitions from 2008 on. The article shows how the coalitional processes became interrelated in this period, and the importance of certain critical events. Confirmation is given of the preliminary hypothesis that the experiences of previous relatively stable governments and regular elections have not contributed to the stability of subsequent coalitional governments since 2008. Further, the experiences of previous withdrawals from governments have not reduced the possibility of future withdrawals.
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