Politics & Government
Coalition Agreements and Junior Partners
Quick fact
Junior coalition partners can be so constrained by the coalition agreement that they sometimes face a 'junior partner's curse' – being punished by voters for compromises they had to make to stay in government, even though they have little control over those decisions.
Why this is interesting
In many parliamentary systems, the party that wins the most seats doesn't always get to make the rules. Junior partners in a coalition often face a surprising dilemma: they gain power, but they also hand over their freedom.