Introduction : social coalitions between equilibria and crises / Hideko Magara -- The emergence of an anti-bourgeois bloc in France / Bruno Amable & Stefano Palombarini -- Abenomics and Japanese politics / Masanobu Ido -- Who turned their back on the SPD? : electoral disaffection with the German...

This paper investigates the occurrence of oppositional pre-electoral coalitions in competitive authoritarian regimes. Using a unique database of 115 elections in 57 countries, during the period 1989-2004, the paper argues that oppositional parties' potential for policy - as well as office -...

Five leading German political parties and their coalitions are evaluated with regard to party manifestos and results of the 2005 parliamentary elections. For this purpose, the party manifestos are converted into Yes/No answers to 95 topical questions (Relax the protection against dismissals?...