Designating the official opposition in a Westminster parliamentary system

Michaud, Nelson

doi:10.1080/13572330008420640

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The Westminster system fits this description. The cabinet dominates both the executive and legislative power (Kam, 2009: 6), which in turn promotes a more confrontational (Michaud, 2000) and contentious (Norton, 2008) relationship between opposition and government parties. Not all Westminster parliamentary systems are characterized by persistent single-party majority governments.…”

Section: Westminster Systems and Party Leadership Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since large opposition parties have very little influence on policy-making, question time becomes one of the most important tools for them for improving their electoral image before the next election (Kaiser, 2008; Salmond, 2004, 2014). The leader of the largest opposition party has priority over other MPs in questioning the prime minister (Michaud, 2000), which subjects them to routine evaluations from fellow parliamentarians and the media. Consistently poor performances during question time create doubt in the MPs’ minds about the leader’s ability to articulate the weaknesses of the government’s policies and persuade voters that their party is the better alternative.…”

Section: Westminster Systems and Party Leadership Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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More spotlight, more problems? Westminster parliamentary systems and leadership replacement in large opposition parties

2016

Party Politics

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In this article, I argue that Westminster parliamentary systems encourage large opposition parties to replace their leaders between elections. Parliamentary system structures how parties compete over legislative outcomes. In Westminster systems, the government’s dominance in the legislative process promotes an adversarial government–opposition relationship. Subsequently, large opposition parties’ electoral prospects are tied to their ability to discredit the government’s policy agenda. Since this responsibility falls to party leaders, leaders of large opposition parties directly affect their parties’ electoral prospects, and parties are more motivated to replace those who are ineffective in damaging the government’s credibility. Therefore, leaders of large opposition parties in Westminster systems carry a higher risk of replacement than their counterparts in other parliamentary systems. I construct an original data set on party leadership turnover in 14 established parliamentary democracies. Results from Cox proportional hazard models support my claim and suggest that institution influences intraparty dynamics.

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Section: Westminster Systems and Party Leadership Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Westminster Systems and Party Leadership Evictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

More spotlight, more problems? Westminster parliamentary systems and leadership replacement in large opposition parties

2016

Party Politics

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“…In particular Prime Minister's Question Time (while always having been somewhat biased towards the two key protagonists) has increasingly turned into a real showdown between prime ministers and opposition leaders (see Serban, 2021). Yet, even in countries such as Canada, where the designation of the status of official Opposition has been challenging due to particularities of the party system, Leaders of the Opposition have, if at all, gained rather than lost in political stature and prominence (Michaud, 2000). The ongoing personalization and mediatization of politics, which has come to mark most contemporary democracies and many other regimes as well (Cross et al, 2018;Rahat and Kenig, 2018), has affected not just political chief executives (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prime ministers in waiting? Women leaders of the opposition in Westminster systems

Helms

2023

Party Politics

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One of the key defining features of Westminster-type democracies is the acknowledgement of an official Opposition and a Leader of the Opposition typically referred to as a ‘prime minister in waiting’. This article focuses on this crucial element of Westminster democracy and applies a gender perspective, looking into women Leaders of the Opposition in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia (1975–2022). As this inquiry reveals, there have been few and mostly short-lived women Leaders of the Opposition. Further, contrary to plausible assumptions, there have been more women Leaders of the Opposition from conservative than from left-wing parties. In particular, however, the office of Leader of the Opposition has, with few exceptions, not proven as a springboard to the premiership. In fact, a majority of women prime ministers were ‘takeover prime ministers’, inheriting the office from a predecessor from their own party, rather than former Leaders of the Opposition, while many women Leaders of the Opposition were not even given the opportunity to lead their party into a national election campaign. The article discusses possible explanations for these patterns observed.

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Life after Political Death: The Fate of Leaders after Leaving High Office

Keane¹

2009

Dispersed Democratic Leadership

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Designating the official opposition in a Westminster parliamentary system

Cited by 3 publications

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More spotlight, more problems? Westminster parliamentary systems and leadership replacement in large opposition parties

More spotlight, more problems? Westminster parliamentary systems and leadership replacement in large opposition parties

Prime ministers in waiting? Women leaders of the opposition in Westminster systems

Life after Political Death: The Fate of Leaders after Leaving High Office

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