Abstract

One of the first things parties entering a government coalition do is to decide how they will share the ministerial offices among themselves. Without reaching agreement on this issue, no coalition can take office. For this reason, it is easy to understand why portfolio allocation is so important. In this respect, this paper tries to highlight the differences it is possible to notice if we compare the First and the Second Italian Republic. I hypothesize that those differences depend upon the transformations characterizing the electoral system and the partisan system. More in details, the bargaining environment complexity has increased, and this, in turn, has decreased the proportionality between parties' seats percentages and portfolio allocation. In the Second Italian Republic (much more than in the First one), one of the most important resources at parties' disposal has become their own bargaining power.