Coalition Government:

In many democratic countries, such as Germany, Belgium, India, Israel and Italy, government by a coalition of political parties is considered normal. Often in such countries there are many political parties with a significant level of popular support in elections. This means no one party usually can gain more than 30% of the seats in the parliament or national assembly, so it is necessary for several parties to come together to form a viable government, generally under the premiership of the leader of the largest party involved. In other states, such as the UK, USA and Japan, there are fewer significant political parties and coalitions are rare, as after an election a winning party is able to form an effective government without any help from others. This debate is closely related to issues of voting reform, as countries with some form of proportional representation tend to have more political parties in parliament than those that use a first-past-the-post system, and so are more likely to have coalition governments. The issue has become more topical as the electoral politics of countries such as the UK and Japan is now less predictable, showing that even nonproportional voting systems can result in hung parliaments and coalition governments, as happened with the UK after the 2010 General Election.

Arguments Pros
Coalition government is more democratic, and hence fairer, because it represents a much broader spectrum of public opinion than government by one party alone. In almost all coalitions, a majority of citizens voted for the parties which form the government and so their views and interests are represented in political decision-making.

Cons
Coalition government is actually less democratic as the balance of power is inevitably held by the small parties who can barter their support for concessions from the main groups within the coalition. This means that a party with little popular support is able to impose its policies upon the majority by a process of political blackmail. Possible examples of this might include the role of religious parties in Israel, the Greens in Germany and France, and the demand of constitutional reforms by the Lib Dems in the UK as their price of coalition support in the 2010 hung parliament. Democracy may be further undermined if the process of coalition-making is subject to the whim of a monarch or president, able to decide who to ask to attempt to form a government, whether to call new elections, etc. Coalition government is less transparent. Because a party has no real chance of forming a government alone, the manifestos they present to the public become irrelevant and often wildly unrealistic. Real decisions about political programmes are made after the election, in a process of secretive backroom negotiation from which the public is excluded. This undermines accountability, as voters cannot expect individual parties in a coalition to deliver upon their particular manifesto promises, unlike the single-party governments in the USA and (usually) the UK. Accountability is also absent when a coalition government falls, either after an election or through the defection of some of its supporters. Any

Coalition government creates a more honest and dynamic political system, allowing voters a clearer choice at election time. In countries where coalition government is very rare, such as the UK or USA, the main parties straddle a wide spectrum of opinion and can be seen as coalitions of competing interest groups and ideologies. At elections, however, such parties present themselves, perhaps fraudulently, to voters as united behind particular views and policies, whereas in power their internal divisions may have a serious, and often unseen, impact upon decision-making. In countries with coalition governments the greater number of political parties gives the voter a more honest

choice and brings differences of opinion out into the open for debate. It is also easier for parties to split, or new ones to be formed, as new political issues divide opinion, because new parties still have a chance of a share in political power. Coalitions provide good government because their decisions are made in the interests of a majority of the people. Because a wide consensus of opinion is involved, any policy will be debated thoroughly within the government before it is implemented. Single-party government is much more likely to impose badly thought-out policies upon parliament and people, perhaps for narrowly ideological reasons (for example, the poll tax in the UK). When difficult or historic decisions have to be taken, for example in wartime, over membership of the European Union or NATO, or on the scale of spending cuts needed to deal with the UK's budget deficit, the consent of politicians representing a wide range of interests and opinion is important in committing the country and its people to difficult but necessary courses of action. Coalition government provides more continuity in administration. In countries without a tradition of coalition governments, parties can remain in government or opposition for long periods, and an adversarial political culture develops. When a change does occur, the members of the new administration seldom have any experience of government to draw upon, and often embark upon a wholesale reversal of the previous regimes policies; neither of these things is in the public interest. In states with coalition politics, however, there are usually at least some ministers with considerable experience under the previous government. A more consensual style of politics also allows for a more gradual and constructive shift of policy between administrations.

new administration will tend to include most of the parties and politicians from the previous government, with just a little shuffling of coalition partners and ministerial jobs. Coalitions provide bad government because they are unable to take a long-term view. Sometimes an ideological compass is necessary for governments to navigate in difficult political and economic waters, and coalitions lack such a unifying philosophy. In addition planning for the long-term often requires decisions to be made that are unpopular in the short-term. Coalitions often fail such tests because temporary unpopularity may encourage one of the parties involved to defect, in search of a populist advantage. It might be agreed that sometimes exceptional circumstances, such as war, require a coalition government (although the USA did not have one in either World War). This does not mean that such governments are better in normal conditions. Major constitutional decisions are better dealt with through referenda. Coalition governments are very unstable, often collapsing and reforming at frequent intervals Italy, for example, averages more than one government per year since 1945. This greatly restricts the ability of governments to deal with major reforms and means that politicians seldom stay in any particular ministerial post for long enough to get to grips with its demands. At the same time, this squabbling between political parties erodes the confidence of the public in their political system and in their elected representatives. Finally, evern forming coalitions can take so long that a country may drift along for months with caretaker governments that lack authority - both the Czech Republic and Belgium took over six months to negotiate new governing coalitions after their last elections.

Coalition Govt in India:

To put it simply, a coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. Coalition governments are usually formed as no party can individually achieve a majority in the parliament. However, a coalition government may also be created in a time of national difficulty or crisis. If a coalition collapses, a confidence vote is held or a motion of no confidence is taken. India has had coalition governments at the Centre as well as in individual states since the last two decades. Since India is a diverse country with different ethnic, linguistic and religious communities, it also has diverse ideologies. Due to this, the benefit that a coalition has is that it leads to more consensus based politics and reflects the popular opinion of the electorate. The current UPA-Left arrangement had been formed after parliamentary elections in 2004. Though they have main adversaries in three states, this government was still a stable one till Left withdrew support on matters of nuclear deal. In order to have stable coalitions, it is necessary that political parties moderate their ideologies and programmes. They should be more open to take others point of view as well. They must accommodate each others interests and concerns. But this is not what is happening in India. In India, parties do not always agree on the correct path for governmental policy. Different parties have different interests and beliefs and it is difficult to sustain a consensus on issues when disagreements arise. They often fail to see eye to eye with the government on many public policies. However, this is not to say that we have never had successful coalitions. Governments in Kerela and West Bengal and NDA at the Centre have been sucessful coalitions. Other coalitions should learn from these because it is difficult to operate in an environment full of disagreements. The fact of the matter is that India has had coalition governments in the past and it will continue to have in the future as well. Therefore, it is in best interest for all that parties develop a sense of understanding and do not play games of power politics and bad politics. It is high time that the MPs realize how bad India fares on other economic variables in the world, and it is time they put their energy in improving those than just catering to their selfish interests. If political parties feel that coalitions are too much of a compromise and always lead to unstable governments, then India can think of alternative forms of governmentthe ; presidential system can be one but it has its own cons. It is very important for the political parties to moderate their ideas as there are no ready made formulas or easy solutions to make coalitions work in a smooth manner.

http://theviewspaper.net/coalition-government-in-india/

COALITION GOVERNMENT IN INDIA.

One thing has to be accepted that in our Indian society , The Government formation by alliance wouldn't hold out for much longer time, the reason being there could be either differences among the allied Government or could be ideological clash among the parties. The last time where a party won the election through simple majority could be dated back to 1970, when Congress was considered as front runner during those days because it was through efforts and struggle of the Congressmen that India had won its independence and the sacrifices of the Congressmen were revered by making Congress win in the General Elections. After Rajiv Gandhi's time, People were stupefied as to whom to elect as the driver of the nation. Until then,People presumed it is best to elect the member of Gandhian clan to the position of Prime ministership. After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Congress couldn't win through simple majority, for the same reason stated above. BJP made it's first time appearance as a major party in the Lok Sabha , the reason attributed for this is that some people wanted a break from the dynastic politics followed through Gandhi family lineage and some started getting disillusioned by the idealogies and the principles followed by Congress party. Since then no party has ever won through simple majority and the party who've had comparative majority would take aid of other parties which have won enough seats to make the Main party to be triumphant. The small parties would help the Major party not keeping in mind the interests of people of the nation but for the favours bestowed on to them by major party. This has become a business to small parties which is more profitable than finding Diamond fields at their site. Transaction of people into the needy parties by exchange of money has been institutionalized nowadays. With the formation of Government in this manner, How could the Government survive for a long time. Just because to satisfy few power thirsty and greedy people, How correct is to make the common man to hold the burden by conducting election so frequently and the money spent on it would be collected by common man in the name of Income tax and so many other legal names which are meant to ruin the common man. Hence, My view is that there is a need of a altruistic Government and Philanthropist leader and where the meaning of Coalition would mean accepting the best practices and ideologies from different parties and where a party would mean a group of people who are not influenced by any materialistic stuff but work for interests of the people of the nation and the Nation itself.

http://www.thoughts.com/arunisadude/coalition-government-in-india