Party government and policy responsiveness: Evidence from three parliamentary democracies
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
Party government and policy responsiveness : Evidence from three parliamentary democracies. / Toshkov, Dimiter; Mäder, Lars; Rasmussen, Anne.
In: Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2020, p. 329 - 347.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Party government and policy responsiveness
T2 - Evidence from three parliamentary democracies
AU - Toshkov, Dimiter
AU - Mäder, Lars
AU - Rasmussen, Anne
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Does party government moderate the responsiveness of public policy to public opinion? Analysing a new dataset, we examine whether the ability of governments to respond to the public on 306 specific policy issues in Denmark, Germany and the UK is affected by the extent of coalition conflict and by the fit of the considered policy changes with the government preferences. We find a systematic but relatively weak positive impact of public support on the likelihood and speed of policy change. Contrary to expectations, a higher number of coalition partners are not associated with fewer policy changes nor with weaker responsiveness to public opinion. We also find no evidence that responsiveness to public opinion is necessarily weaker for policy changes that go against the preferences of the government. Rather, it appears that public and government support for policy change are substitute resources.
AB - Does party government moderate the responsiveness of public policy to public opinion? Analysing a new dataset, we examine whether the ability of governments to respond to the public on 306 specific policy issues in Denmark, Germany and the UK is affected by the extent of coalition conflict and by the fit of the considered policy changes with the government preferences. We find a systematic but relatively weak positive impact of public support on the likelihood and speed of policy change. Contrary to expectations, a higher number of coalition partners are not associated with fewer policy changes nor with weaker responsiveness to public opinion. We also find no evidence that responsiveness to public opinion is necessarily weaker for policy changes that go against the preferences of the government. Rather, it appears that public and government support for policy change are substitute resources.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - coalition government
KW - legislative decisionmaking
KW - party government
KW - policy change
KW - policy responsiveness
KW - political parties
U2 - 10.1017/S0143814X18000417
DO - 10.1017/S0143814X18000417
M3 - Journal article
VL - 40
SP - 329
EP - 347
JO - Journal of Public Policy
JF - Journal of Public Policy
SN - 0143-814X
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 209468037