TY - BOOK A1 - Dahlmann, Olaf T1 - Government stability in Estonia: Wishful Thinking or Reality? : An evaluation of Estonia's governments from the 1992 elections up to 2003 [including a comment of the cabinet of Juhan Parts up to February 2005] N2 - This article examines the multiple governments of independent Estonia since 1992 referring to their stability. Confronted with the immense problems of democratic transition, the multi-party governments of Estonia change comparatively often. Following the elections of March 2003 the ninth government since 1992 was formed. A detailed examination of government stability and the example of Estonia is accordingly warranted, given that the country is seen as the most successful Central Eastern European transition country in spite of its frequent changes of government. Furthermore, this article questions whether or not internal government stability can exist within a situation where the government changes frequently. What does stability of government mean and what are the varying multi-faceted depths of the term? Before analysing the term, it has to be clarified and defined. It is presumed that government stability is composed of multiple variables influencing one another. Data about the average tenure of a government is not very conclusive. Rather, the deeper political causes for governmental change need to be examined. Therefore, this article discusses the conceptual and theoretical basics of governmental stability first. Secondly, it discusses the Estonian situation in detail up to the elections of 2003, including a short review of the 9th government since independence. In the conclusion, the author explains whether or not the governments of Estonia are stable. In the appendix, the reader finds all election results and also a list of all previous ministers of Estonian governments (all data are as of July 2002). T3 - Forschungspapiere "Probleme der Öffentlichen Verwaltung in Mittel- und Osteuropa" - 03 KW - Estonia KW - government KW - parliament KW - fluctuation KW - professionalization Y1 - 2005 UR - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/316 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-3613 ER -