Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation

For my memes I have chosen to focus on the Golder article we have for class. For the first meme Golder says, “Just as with government coalition formation, the emergence of pre-electoral coalitions is the result of a bargaining process among party leaders who care about policy and office benefits.” The Washington post has put out an article discussing Trump's back and forth behavior regarding COVID-19, (Drezner). In some circumstances this would not necessarily imply much about the President; however, with President Trump running for reelection, every move he makes regarding the current crisis and handling health care policies could be he reelection or the end of his presidency.



Golder continues discussing pre electoral coalition formation by saying, “This may involve outlining a common coalition platform, deciding which party gets to run the more powerful ministerial posts, choosing which party’s candidates should step down in favour of candidates from their coalition partner(s) in particular districts, or determining which leader is to become prime minister.” The most recent news in the election is Bernie Sanders stepping down and Joe Biden taking the Democratic ticket. As Golder discussed the democratic party did similarly with Bernie Sanders. Although this is not how the news or the government would like to convey the information about Bernie’s step down, we know as students of political science that it is highly likely that there were conversations regarding Bernie needing to step down behind closed doors and coming from the DNC.




Golder continues on saying, “Finally, party i will know that there is some probability that it will not get to enter government if it runs independently. If this situation arises, then it will receive no office benefits and will suffer the utility loss associated with having the government set policy at the government ideal point and not at party i’s ideal point.” As Golder points out an independent will struggle to win the vote of the Party. This remains true for Bernie Sanders that eventhough he was under the democratic ticket his independent party affilation was frustrating for many hardcore democrats.



Drezner, Daniel. “Perspective | Trump Has Handled the Coronavirus the Way He Handles Everything: Like a Toddler.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Apr. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-toddler-coronavirus-pandemic/2020/04/02/163f5c04-7435-11ea-85cb-8670579b863d_story.html.