Coalition

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the term "coalition" in general. For governments, see Coalition government. For other uses, see Coalition (disambiguation).

A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.[1][2]

Formation

According to A Guide for Political Parties published by the National Democratic Institute and the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, there are five steps to coalition building.[3] The first step in coalition building involves developing a party strategy that will prepare for successful negotiation. The more effort parties place on this step, the more likely they are to identify strategic partners, negotiate a good deal and avoid some of the common mistakes associated with coalition building. The second step is negotiating a coalition. Based on the strategy that each party has prepared, the parties come together to negotiate and reach an agreement on the coalition terms. Depending on the context and objectives of the coalition, these negotiations may be completely secret or partially public. While some issues may be agreed on with relative ease, others may be more contentious and require different approaches to reach compromise. As negotiation concludes, the agreement between political parties needs to be formally sealed. This third step includes finalizing a written agreement, securing formal approval of the deal from the relevant structures of the coalition’s member parties and announcing the coalition details to the general public. The next step involves working in coalition. As the coalition partners begin working to implement their agreement, they will need to maintain good relations by continuing efforts to increase or sustain trust and communication among the member parties. Each party will also need to find a balance between respecting its obligations to the coalition and maintaining its individual identity. The final step is to identify lessons learned. Regardless of whether it plans to move forward alone or in another coalition, it is important for each party to review and document lessons learned from each coalition-building experience. This will make it possible to get a clearer picture of the positive and negative impacts of coalition-building on the party and to identify lessons learned that can inform any future coalition-building efforts.

Coalitions manifest in a variety of forms, types, and terms of duration.[4] Campaign coalitions are high intensity and involve long-term cooperation. Federations are characterized by a relatively lower degree of involvement, intensity, and participation, also involving long-term cooperation but with members' primary commitment remaining with their own entities. Instrumental coalitions have low-intensity involvement without a foundation to mediate conflict. Finally, event-based coalitions are those that have a high level of involvement and the potential for future collaboration.

In contrast to alliances, coalitions may be termed partnerships of unequals, since comparative political, economic, and military might, as well as the extent to which a nation is prepared to commit to the coalition, dictate influence. Coalitions can often occur as unplanned responses to situations of danger, uncertainty, or extraordinary events, directed at interim objectives.[5]

Function

Coalitions can be classified as internal or external. Internal coalitions consist of people who are already in an organization, such as a workplace.[6] For example, a trade union is a type of coalition formed to represent employees' wages, benefits, and working conditions. Without this unity between employees, workers may be subjugated to harsh working environments and low pay due to no practical regulations.[7] Often, organizations prefer to meet with members of their respective internal coalitions before implementing changes in the workplace to ensure support.[6]

In contrast, external coalitions consist of people that are members of different organizations who collaborate their efforts to achieve an overall objective.[6] For example, in order to prevent gun violence and advocate gun control, several groups, unions, and nonprofit organizations banded together to form the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. External coalitions base their confidence in gaining credibility on inviting unlikely partners who wish to attain the same end goal, even if the reasons to achieve the goal differ.[6]

Use

Government and politics

See also: Coalition government
Part of the Politics series
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dominant party.[10]

Coalitions are similar to parliamentary groups. Fluid coalitions, which change with each vote, exist in the European Parliament[11] and Swiss parliament to pass legislation.

International relations

Diagram of some international coalitions established by  Brazil,  China,  India,  Mexico,  Russia and  South Africa: BASIC, BRICS, G5 and IBSA

The temporary collaboration of two or more separate parties with a set goal and common purpose can be viewed as a coalition in international relations.[12] Coalition competitions are represented in international political dynamics.[13] A coalition can be an ad hoc grouping of nations united for specific purposes.[14] Although persons and groups form coalitions for many and varied reasons, the most common purpose is to combat a common threat or to take advantage of a certain opportunity, resulting in the often temporary nature of coalitions. The common threat or existence of opportunity is what gives rise to the coalition and allows it to exist as all parties involved see the benefit in working together. Such collaborative processes allow the actors of the coalition to approach a common goal or accomplish the same task.[15] The behavior and dynamics of coalitions in international relations are created by commonalities and differences within the groups joining together. Rationality, group dynamics, and gender are all contributing factors of coalitional behaviors in an international security framework.[16]

Economics

Economic agents can form coalitions.

environmental agreements) can also be seen as a coalition. In economics, a coalition's formation and its stability is mostly studied using game theory
.

Civil society

In

Activist
groups in civil society are also viewed as coalitions for their respective cause. These activists are joined together by their belief in what they want to achieve or accomplish.

Military

Military coalitions can be built and united under a singular power by multiple states and governments. They are fluid in terms of membership – not only does a country not have to have been a traditional ally to join a coalition, but nations can join, vary their contributions and caveats, withdraw, and be replaced by new members as the situation changes or national agendas change.

Versailles Peace Conference
, when the Allied powers attempted to reach a peace agreement.

Examples of military coalitions include the

2011 Libyan Civil War against Muammar Gaddafi. For coalitions to be effective in principle or in action, participating nations have tended to require a single overpowering threat – perhaps to freedom or a way of life or a crucial national interest – or the presence of a single despotic figure or regime whose continued existence is considered not only abhorrent to the generality of nations but also destabilizing to the region or world order.[5]

Mathematics

In mathematics, the term coalition is linked to an equation which uses the coalition model for exponential population growth. This analytical equation was first published by mathematician Pierre François Verhulst in 1838 to allow for the approximation of the world's population at a given time by applying differential and integral techniques.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Coalition International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. p. 586–587.
  2. ^ ""Coalition." Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2017-04-27.
  3. ^ "Coalitions: A Guide for Political Parties". www.ndi.org. 27 October 2015.
  4. ISBN 9780521851305
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780199562930
    .
  6. ^ a b c d Gallicano, McComas, Tiffany, Katherine (2013). Encyclopedia of Public Relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 126–129.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "Why unions are good for workers—especially in a crisis like COVID-19: 12 policies that would boost worker rights, safety, and wages". Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  8. ISBN 978-0028659657
    .
  9. ^ "coalition Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  10. ^
    ISBN 9781412959636
    .
  11. ^ European Parliament: Is the grand coalition really a thing of the past?, Awenig Marié, 2019
  12. ^ Fogarty, Edward (February 7, 2013). "Coalition POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS". www.britannica.com/topic/coalition. Archived from the original on 2017-04-28.
  13. S2CID 57562816
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-415-82246-6. Retrieved 26 April 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link
    )
  15. JSTOR 3096934. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  16. ^ Kazemi, S.; Enayati Hatkehlui, B.; Kazemi, A. (2014). "The Relationship between Organizational Culture Factors and Employees' Group Dynamics: Case Study of General Office of Education in Mazandaran Province". Journal of Industrial Strategic Management. 11 (35): 35–48. Archived from the original on 2017-04-27.
  17. ISBN 1-84376265-X
    . Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  18. ^ "What is a coalition? definition and meaning". business dictionary. Archived from the original on 2017-04-29.
  19. ^ ABELL, JOHN (August 6, 2009). "August 6, 1997: Apple Rescued — by Microsoft". Wired. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
  20. ^ "CNN Wire. June 2, 2016". CNN Newsource Sales, Inc.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ Pitcoff, Winton (September 1998). "Community Labor Coalitions". www.nhi.org. Archived from the original on 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  22. ^ "About Us". www.cc.org/about_us. Archived from the original on 2008-03-04.
  23. ISBN 978-1-78402-464-2
    .
  24. ISBN 978-0-02-865928-2
    .
  25. ^ Smith, Moore, David, Lawrence. "World Population Growth - The Coalition Model". Mathematical Association of America. Archived from the original on 2017-04-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

The dictionary definition of coalition at Wiktionary

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