Category Archives: Comparative

“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

The Merkel III Cabinet: Germany’s Longest Caretaker

Posted on 2018/07/11 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction The Merkel III Cabinet should have lasted from 2013 to 2017, but it lingered on in office for five months – from the first meeting of the new Bundestag on 24 October 2017 until the appointment of the new … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative, Formation of Governments, Government Formation in Germany & Austria | Leave a comment

The Nature of the “Democratic Deficit” and Executive Federalism in Canada

Posted on 2018/02/01 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction The “Democratic Deficit” first referred to a critique from the late 1970s on how the European Economic Community ran its Parliament vis-a-vis its executive-like Commission. Canadian scholars took up the term in the 1980s and applied it here. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Parliamentarism v Presidentialism, Responsible Government, Separation of Powers | 1 Comment

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