Identifying Utility-Maximizing and Equilibrium Coalitions of Political Parties in Government Formation Processes Using a Visualization Approach

Abstract

As the formation of government coalitions between two or more political parties is a typical procedure in multiparty systems after elections and the parties’ decision on what coalition to form heavily influences policy outcomes, electorates, academics, and other stakeholders like journalists or party officials increasingly need digital tools that can determine the parties’ most preferred coalitions. This article presents a novel visualization tool for identifying utility-maximizing choices and equilibrium coalitions to provide users with rapid analyzing capabilities revealing parties’ most preferred coalitions in the aftermath of parliamentary elections. We demonstrate our tool’s analytical leverage taking the 2017 German federal elections as in-depth example. Our tool is available online at www.mytuc.org/mcbz .