RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research interests lie in the field of comparative politics. More specifically, my research focuses on minority cabinets, political parties, institutions, coalition governments, parliaments, and corruption perception.
MINORITY GOVERNMENTS
How can effective governance be achieved without commanding a legislative majority? How do both cabinet and non-cabinet parties wield influence over policy outcomes? What motivates parties to engage in strong government support agreements? What impact do different types of minority cabinets have on legislative control and cabinet stability? Despite one-third of established parliamentary democracies being governed by minority governments, there has been limited comparative research since Kaare Strøm’s seminal work in 1990. For my dissertation project, I gathered comprehensive data on minority cabinet characteristics, support party attributes, and support agreements. Through my thesis and various collaborative articles, I aim to provide insights into minority governments from a comparative standpoint.
Publications:
[9] Legislative Bargaining under Minority Governments, 2025, in EE Handbook on Coalition Politics, Bräuninger T. and Debus M. (eds)
[8] Do perceptions of support parties shift with the prime ministerial party? 2025, in The Journal of Politics (with Matthew Bergman and Svenja Krauss)
[7] Hitting the sweet spot? The electoral consequences of supporting minority governments, 2025, in Comparative Political Studies (with Heike Klüver)
[6] The formalisation of minority cabinets, 2024, in West European Politics, Vol. 47 (1), pp. 113-141 (with Svenja Krauss)
[5] Flexible, stable and effective? The state of research on minority governments, 2023, inZeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft (with Christian Stecker)
[4] Small but powerful? The legislative performance of minority cabinets, 2022, in Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. 47 (1), pp. 193-224 (awarded with the Jewell-Loewenberg Prize, Comparative Politics, 2023)
[3] Stability of minority governments and the role of support agreements, 2022, in West European Politics, Vol. 45 (4), pp. 767-792 (with Svenja Krauss)
[2] Under the Influence: Pay-Offs of Legislative Support Parties under Minority Governments, 2021, in Government and Opposition, Vol. 56 (1), pp. 121-140 (with Veronica Anghel)
[1] PhD Thesis: Policy-making under minority cabinets: How non-cabinet parties influence public policies (at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Available working papers:
– Policy Making under Minority Governments: The influence of cabinet and non-cabinet parties
– Cross-partisan co-sponsoring in parliamentary systems under majority and minority governments (with Martin Søyland)
COALITIONS (& POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS)
Coalition governments play a pivotal role in the political landscape of most established parliamentary democracies. Understanding the circumstances that influence the formation of different types of cabinets and the partisan dynamics impacting government stability is therefore of utmost importance. In my research, I also explore the interplay between political institutions and coalition governments. How do institutions shape government formation? How do multi-level structures influence coalitions on the state and the national level? And how do coalitions utilize legislative mechanisms, such as committee chairs, to wield influence?
Publications:
[5] It is possible because I have already seen it – How Sub-National Coalitions Affect Voters’ Expectations about Government Compositions on the National Level, forthcoming in Democracy at the Crossroads: Challenges for Government and Representation Essays in Honour of Thomas Saalfeld (J. Fernandes and J. Martinez eds.) (with Daniel Höhmann)
[4] Regional coalition heuristics: how government participation impacts party perceptions in a multi-level context, online first, in West European Politics (with Ida Hjermitslev & Svenja Krauss)
[3] Duration of Coalition Formation in the German States: Inertia and Familiarity in a Multilevel Setting, online first, in Parliamentary Affairs (with Katrin Praprotnik & Svenja Krauss)
[2] Institutional constraints on cabinet formation: Veto points and party system dynamics, in European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 60 (2), pp. 295-316 (with Johan Hellström & Holger Döring)
[1] Extra-coalitional policy bargaining: investigating the power of committee chairs, in The Journal of Legislative Studies, Vol. 27 (1), pp. 93-111 (with Svenja Krauss & Katrin Praprotnik)
CORRUPTION PERCEPTION & ANTI-CORRUPTION MESSAGES
How is corruption perceived in Bulgaria? Who has to be the sender of anti-corruption messages for the electorate to believe in government efforts? And who reports corruption to the authorities? In cooperation with the Basel Institute on Governance, we analyze corruption perception in Bulgaria. The first survey was fielded in February 2023, the second one in February 2024. The survey results and descriptive analyses have been published in the working paper series by the Basel Institute on Governance.
Publications:
– Perceptions of corruption and anti-corruption efforts in Bulgaria: Results of a national survey 2023, Working Paper 44, Basel Institute on Governance (with Stefanie Bailer)
Available working papers:
– Partisan effects of anti-corruption messages. Evidence from Bulgaria
Maria Thürk 