Alternation in Government in the Industrialized Countries

1 January 1982

journal article
Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Government and Opposition

Vol. 17 (1) , 3-21
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.1982.tb00675.x

Abstract

I MUST CONFESS THAT I DID NOT CHOOSE THE SUBJECT OF this article out of theoretical or scientific interest. My dreams have not been peopled by the merits of replacing one team by another in government. It was FranGois Mitterrand's election to the Presidency of the French Republic to which I reacted in a way that I shall not conceal from you: alternation in government is not in itself a blessing. Let us admit that it is desirable in general and in the abstract that, where a country is divided between two blocs, each of them should some day come to power, one of them should not be condemned to the ungrateful role of a perpetual opposition. But having said that, we should not change government unless the new oneholds out more hope than the old.

Keywords

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