Author Archives: Mark Oaten MP

Opinion: Talking Coalitions

By Mark Oaten MP | Mon 10th September 2007 - 7:39 am

Some of you may know that I have recently finished authoring a book on coalition governments. I wanted to speak directly to Lib Dem members to explain my conclusions, having spent the best part of the past nine months researching and writing the book, and how and why I have come to them. It’s not easy to explain in a brief article but I hope it goes some way to illuminating why I have come to the view that for our party and the country, we need to be both prepared for and wary of sharing power.

For most of my 18-year career in politics, I have seen such a deal as an exciting prospect. For a third party in a majoritarian electoral system, coalition government is our quickest route to power, and perhaps the only way we will achieve proportional representation. But my study of the history of coalition governments has given me a new insight into coalitions and the myriad pitfalls that accompany them.