Between Plurality and Seniority: Determinants of Coalitional Government’s duration at the Regional Level in Germany and Spain

Germany and Spain share a similar political decentralization system, so comparison among them can shed light on how the coalitions are formed, how long they last, and which kind of achievements they reach in parliamentary systems. In the present paper, two variables are compared quantitatively: first, the number of parties that take part in the coalitions, from the premise that the more parties in the government, the greater the instability –as it is much more difficult to come to an agreement– and therefore, the duration of the coalitions will be lower; and second, the age of the members of the government, from the assumption that older executives provide greater stability and longer duration of the coalition, as their members can afford the political costs derived from being part of the government. This paper is part of the CSO2013-42262-P project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.