Category Archives: Constructive Non-Confidence

Putting the Personal above the Factual: Errol Mendes on Early Dissolution and Fixed-Date Election Laws in 2008 vs in 2021

Posted on 2021/08/14 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction I have chronicled several examples of scholarly inconsistency between how some academics cover and write about Harper versus Trudeau, The four most notable examples come down to the following: tactical prorogation, contempt of parliament, the caretaker convention and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative, Confirmation Voting, Constructive Non-Confidence, Crown (Powers and Office), Dissolution, Fixed-Date Elections, Reform | 1 Comment

“There’s Nothing Strategic About This”: How Dwight Ball’s “New Government” Distorted the Caretaker Convention

Posted on 2019/08/01 by J.W.J. Bowden

By James Bowden & Lyle Skinner[1]   Table of Contents Introduction: An Early Election Leads to a Hung Parliament The Caretaker Convention in Canada and Newfoundland & Labrador Summoning the New House of Assembly, Electing the Speaker, and Tabling the … Continue reading →

Posted in Appointment of PM, Caretaker Convention & Government Formation, Comparative, Confirmation Voting, Constitutional Conventions, Constructive Non-Confidence, Crown (Powers and Office), Officialization of Convention, Succession (Prime Minister) | 1 Comment

Alpine Madness: Austria Takes The Caretaker Convention to the Extreme

Posted on 2019/07/04 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction A series of strange events has recently befallen Austria. It began with political scandal and the collapse of the coalition government between Sebastian Kurz’s People’s Party and Heinz-Christian Strache’s Freedom Party and ended a few weeks later with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative, Confirmation Voting, Constructive Non-Confidence, Government Formation in Germany & Austria | 2 Comments

Germany Is The New Belgium: Of Continental Parliamentarism and Caretaker Government

Posted on 2018/01/01 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction Germany has become the new Belgium now that the Merkel III Ministry, a Grand Coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats that should only have lasted from 2013 to 2017, has become a Belgian-style long-term caretaker government. Caretaker Chancellor … Continue reading →

Posted in Codification of Convention, Comparative, Confirmation Voting, Constructive Non-Confidence, Government Formation in Germany & Austria, Officialization of Convention | Leave a comment

How Early General Federal Elections Can Be Held in Germany

Posted on 2017/11/26 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction Germans elected a new parliament on 24 September 2017. The main center-right and center-left parties, the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, both lost ground to the far-right Alternative for Germany and the far-left, aptly named The Left. The Free … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative, Confirmation Voting, Constructive Non-Confidence, Fixed-Date Elections, Government Formation in Germany & Austria | 1 Comment