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Politics & Government vocabulary · Parties and Ideologies

Coalition

Meaning in politics & government, with examples

/ˌkəʊəˈlɪʃn/nounCore term

In politics & government, coalition means: An arrangement in which two or more political parties agree to work together, especially to form a government when no single party has a majority.

In Turkish: koalisyon, ittifak

How it is used

Parties form, enter or leave a coalition, and a coalition can collapse. The parties are coalition partners and negotiate a coalition agreement. Coalition governments are common under proportional representation.

Example sentences

  1. The two parties signed a coalition agreement after three weeks of talks.

  2. The coalition collapsed when the smaller partner withdrew its ministers.

Common collocations

  • coalition government
  • coalition partner
  • form a coalition
  • coalition agreement
  • governing coalition
  • majorityThe larger part of a group, especially more than half of the seats in parliament or of the votes cast; also the number by which the winner is ahead of the others.
  • minority governmentA government formed by a party or coalition that does not have a majority of seats in parliament and depends on support from other parties to pass laws.
  • political partyAn organized group of people with similar political aims and ideas who try to win elections so that they can form a government or influence policy.
  • proportional representationAn electoral system in which parties win seats in proportion to the share of the vote they receive, so that 20% of the votes gives roughly 20% of the seats.
  • ruling partyThe political party that is in power and forms the government, either alone or as the largest member of a coalition.

More terms: Parties and Ideologies

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