Outsider Parties in Government in Western Europe

Abstract

In recent decades, a growing number of ‘outsider parties’ have entered governing centre-left and centre-right coalitions across Western Europe. Here the authors define outsider parties as those which – even when their vote-share would have enabled it – have gone through a period of not being ‘coalitionable’, whether of their own volition or that of other parties in the system. The authors then discuss the problems which outsider parties encounter when entering government and suggest some reasons for their success and failure in office. Finally, we propose avenues for further research, in particular that of examining differences between the first and subsequent experiences of office for such parties.