The implications of the European financial crisis and parties’ positions on European integration on the outcomes of government formation processes in Southern Europe

This article examines the determinants of the partisan composition of cabinets formed in the last twenty years in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Assuming that coalition formation processes take place in three-dimensional political spaces, we assess the impact of the ideological heterogeneity of potential coalitions on economic, EU-related, and socio-cultural issues on the chances that a combination of parties finally forms a cabinet. We find that - in line with the intensified role exerted by EU institutions in domestic affairs - parties were more likely to form a coalition government with those actors who share similar positions on an economic and an EU integration dimension.