National government
National governments (alternatively
national unity governments or
national union governments) are broad
coalition governments consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the
legislature and are often formed during times of war or national emergency.
The (then independent)
Dominion of
Newfoundland had a National Government during
World War I.
In
Canada, during World War I, the
Conservative government of Sir
Robert Borden invited the
Liberal opposition to join the government as a means of dealing with the
Conscription crisis of 1917. The Liberals, led by Sir
Wilfrid Laurier refused; however, Borden was able to convince many individual Liberals to join what was called a
Union Government, which defeated the Laurier Liberals in the fall
1917 election.
In
Canada, during
World War II, the
opposition Conservative Party ran under the name
National Government in the
1940 election as a means of promoting their platform of creating a wartime national government coalition (evocative of the previous war's
Union government). The party did dismally in the election which re-elected the
Liberal government of
William Lyon Mackenzie King whose party continued to rule alone for the duration of
World War II.
See National Government (Canada)Israel has had several
National Unity Governments, in which the rival
Israeli Labour Party and
Likud formed a ruling coalition.
Luxembourg has had two
National Union Governments.
The first was formed in 1916, during the First World War (in which Luxembourg was
neutral, but occupied by
Germany nonetheless). It was led by
Victor Thorn and included all of the major factions in the
Chamber of Deputies, but lasted for only sixteen months.
The second National Union Government was formed in November 1945, in the aftermath of the Second World War, which had devastated Luxembourg. It was led by
Pierre Dupong, who had been
Prime Minister in the
government in exile in the war, and included all four parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies. The government lasted until
1947, by which time, a normal coalition between two of the three largest parties had been arranged, thus maintaining the
confidence of the legislature.
In addition, Luxembourg had a
Liberation Government between November 1944 and November 1945, also under Dupong. It served a similar emergency role to a national government, but included only the two largest parties, the
CSV and the
LSAP.
In the
United Kingdom, the electoral system is often said to discourage coalitions, but nonetheless National Governments were formed during
World War I and
World War II. The coalition under
David Lloyd George lasted until
1922. During the
Great Depression a coalition termed a
National Government was formed in
1931 between
Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and the
Conservatives and
Liberals. Most members of the Labour Party rejected the government, however, and moved to the opposition benches leaving MacDonald and his supporters to stand as
National Labour. This coalition had some support from
National Liberals, also, with the disarray of the Liberal Party of the time; it took in broader support in the war years, and nominally persisted until the general election of
1945. Subsequently coalition politics in the UK was seen only in the form of the brief
Lib-Lab Pact.
''See
National Government 1931-1935;
National Government 1935-1940Some countries, eg
New Zealand, have or have had a
National Party, which can lead to the use of the phrase "National Government" when it is in power. Such governments are not National Governments in the sense of this article.
