A new integrated model of the formation of coalitions: perspectives on the Twentieth Knesset

This article integrates various aspects of the office-seeking approach, the policy-seeking approach and the institutional rule approach to theories about establishing coalitions to create a new model that takes into account the mutual influence between the formation and stability of the coalition, party policies and the difference between the status of the party that formed the coalition and that of its coalition partners. It also introduces a new index based on mechanical physics to measure the degree of fragmentation in the coalition. Using data from the 20 terms of the Israeli Knesset, particularly the Twentieth Knesset, as our case study, the article demonstrates that large ideological distances between the political parties can be an advantage for the coalition’s formateur. The results confirm the validity of the proposed model, which awaits further validation in other parliaments worldwide.