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Measuring portfolio salience in Eastern European parliamentary democracies

This article presents the results of an expert survey of 14 Eastern European countries on the subject of portfolio salience. Respondents provided ratings of the relative value of all ministerial portfolios in these countries over the years 1990-2002. The ratings are unique in the study of Eastern Europe and appear to possess the characteristics of compre- hensiveness and reliability. Comparing the results with a similar survey of Western Europe indicates that individual portfolios are rated nearly identically in both regions. Some signifi- cant differences, however, emerge when we look separately at more advanced and less advanced Eastern European countries. Various suggestions are made for how scholars can use these new data in future work. Research on coalition government is one of the most advanced and progres- sive areas in political science. It has identified a large number of nuanced and well-confirmed regularities about how coalition formation occurs. Yet, most of