Parliamentary Opposition during Minority Governments in Denmark: Responsiveness with responsibility?

With its multiparty system and frequent minority governments, Denmark is a good case to explore and test propositions on the opposition parties’ behaviour (Christiansen and Damgaard 2008). Opposition parties, defined in broadest terms as parties that do not hold cabinet positions, are found in various forms. The presence of minority governments partly reflects that there are opposition parties that decide not to join a government, but this does not necessarily mean that they follow an adversarial style of opposition. Some of them support the survival of the minority government, others do not. Some may support most policies of the government from a permanent support party position, others are involved in durable legislative agreements over policies that bind the parties whether they also support the survival of the government or not. Moreover, opposition parties may, after all, pursue adversarial policies towards the governments. A complete collection of legislative data on approved legislation between 1998 and 2015 as well as data on control measures undertaken by opposition parties makes it possible to empirically map and test theoretical expectations about opposition behaviour, also with regard to the size of majorities, and the impact of the European dimension. The nine parties in the Danish parliament at present are divided over the EU issue. Until now, only pro-EU parties have been in government making this issue a gatekeeper to public office. The division between permanent and temporary opposition is thus also testable.