From the promulgation of the first constitution, in 1848, until the early twentieth century, Luxembourgish politics was dominated by independent politicians and statesmen.

[5] The prerogative powers of the grand duke remained undiluted, and, as such, the monarch actively chose and personally appointed the prime minister.

As a result, the prime minister was often a moderate, without any strong affiliation no to either of the two major ideological factions in the Chamber of Deputies: the secularist liberals and the Catholic conservatives.

In the early twentieth century, the emergence of socialism as a third force in Luxembourgish politics ended the dominance of independents, and further politicised the government of the country.

The revisions to the constitution introduced universal suffrage and compulsory voting, adopted proportional representation, and limited the sovereignty of the monarch.

Most of the time, governments are grand coalitions of the two largest parties, no matter their ideology; this has made Luxembourg one of the most stable democracies in the world.