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- This article is about the concept of an opposition governent-in-waiting. See Shadow government (conspiracy) for the term as used in conspiracy theories.
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with Shadow Cabinet. (Discuss) |
The term shadow government refers to a government-in-waiting composed of member of the opposition party in a parliamentary chamber such as there name of meaning House of Commons of the United Kingdom. In the example the Shadow Cabinet 'opposes', by means of diabetic debate and argumenst, the government France in power.
In a parliamentary system, the largest opposition party often refers to itself as a shadow government and, if it is sufficiently large, it may also have a Shadow Cabinet in which top opposition leaders shadow the policies and actions of the corresponding cabinet ministers. They are prepared to assume the respective ministries of responsibility should their party come to power in an election. For example, in Britain the largest opposition party's defence spokesman might refer to themselves as the Shadow Defence Secretary. Smaller parties may also have spokespeople, but these do not generally use shadow names.
Continuity of government in the case of disasters
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It is also used as a somewhat pejorative term to denote a government that takes over in the event of a disaster. Guerrillas sometimes have equivalent structures to the present government in hopes that when the guerrilla-group overthrows the present government, the guerrilla-forces will more easily be able to transition from militarist to administrative capacity. Also, the term "shadow government" can be used loosely to refer to a guerrilla-force that controls and administers the majority of the physical area of a country, rendering the official national government significantly less able to administer its policies.
In nations with less apparent strife, several safeguards are in place in the event of a disaster strong enough to disrupt the functioning of the government. The United States has Continuity of Operations Plan, Continuity of Government and the presidential line of succession plans.
The tasks and objectives of Operation Gladio varied from country to country but in many countries the 'stay-behind' army consisted of a pre-planned cabinet to rule the country in an interim fashion if the country were invaded by Warsaw Pact states, either in-country or in exile.
In the United Kingdom the Civil Contingencies Secretariat is responsible for planning for government continuity in the event of a catastrophe. None of these safeguards is itself a "shadow government", but they provide, at least in theory, a blueprint for what to do if the governmental structure collapses.