Executive-Legislative Relations: Minority Government

Abstract

The relationship between the executive and the legislature is key to both shaping and implementing public policy. Whenever legislatures delegate to executives, they risk agency loss. While executives often seek to dominate the legislature on which they depend for access to the public purse and for passing legislation, this is complicated when the executive does not command a majority in the legislature. This panel explores the relationship between government and legislature under conditions of minority government, whereby the government needs to continuously build ad-hoc coalitions to achieve its aims.