List of tables and figures; Series editors' preface; Part I. Introduction: 1. Cabinet ministers and government formation in parliamentary democracies Michael Laver and Kenneth A. Shepsle; Part II. Coalition Systems: 2. Models of government and the Australian cabinet Wolfgang C. Müller; 3. The political role of Norwegian cabinet ministers Kaare Strom; 4. The Netherlands: ministers and cabinet policy Rudy B. Andeweg and Wilma Bakema; 5. The political role of cabinet ministers in Ireland Brian Farrell; 6. Finland: ministerial autonomy, constitutional collectivism, and party oligarchy Jaakko Nousiainen; 7. Cabinet ministers and policy-making in Belgium: the impact of coalition constraints Arco Timmermans; 8. The role of cabinet ministers in the French Fourth Republic François Petry; 9. The political autonomy of cabinet ministers in the French Fifth Republic Jean-Louis Thiébault; 10. The role of German ministers in cabinet decision making Ferdinand Müller-Rommel; 11. Cabinet ministers and parliamentary government in Sweden Torbjörn Larsson; 12. The political role of cabinet ministers in Italy Annarita Criscitiello; Part III. Majority Party Government Systems: 13. Ministerial autonomy in Britain Anthony King; 14. Collective cabinet decision making in New Zealand Matthew S. R. Palmer; 15. The interpersonal dynamics of decision making in Canadian provincial cabinets Graham White; 16. Cabinet decision making in the Hellenic Republic 1974-1992 Kleomenis S. Koutsoukis; Part IV. Conclusion: 17. Cabinet government in theoretical perspective Michael Laver and Kenneth A. Shepsle; Index.