The second type of grand coalition is the crisis variety or the emergency grand coalition. These grand coalitions have formed during periods of national crisis like war or economic difficulty. A number of countries have had a brush with grand coalitions of this variety including the United Kingdom during 1915-16, 1931-40 and 1945 and Canada in 1917.

The third variety of grand coalition is the one that emerges in parliamentary bargaining situations. Grand coalitions emerge when traditional combinations of parties are unwilling or unable to form a government. The coalition makers then decide that they would be better off together in a coalition rather than acceding to the demands of the coalitionable parties or going for fresh elections. Germany in 1966 and in 2005, Israel on many occasions and most lately in January 2005, Iceland in 2007 and Pakistan in 2008 are some examples of grand coalitions of this type.

•Which of these types has attracted most attention recently?

The third variety of grand coalitions formed out of parliamentary bargaining is now famous. In the 2005 elections in Germany the two traditional coalitions did not manage an overall majority and after intense negotiations, two rivals, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)-Christian Socialist Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) came together to form a grand coalition. Other examples from Europe include the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the People’s Party (ÖVP) grand coalition since January 2007 in Austria and the Independence Party and the Social Democratic Alliance since May 2007 in Iceland.

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