Raising the Stakes. Passing State Budgets in Scandinavia

Abstract State budget reforms in Sweden and Norway have increased the political importance of annual parliamentary state budget votes. Informal changes of the process in Denmark have had a similar effect. This article analyzes state budget agreements in the Scandinavian countries over the last 35 years. Its results indicate that the governments of the three countries have become more prone to commit themselves to binding coalitional arrangements with other parties. In these countries with frequent minority governments, this involves institutionalized incorporation of support parties and legislative accommodations in securing a majority for the state budget.