Cross-national partisan effects on agenda stability. Issue 4 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bevan, Shaun; Greene, Zachary
• Is Part Of: Journal of European public policy. Volume 25:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 586
• Page End: 605
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Agenda-setting -- coalition politics -- issue attention -- political parties -- policy accountability -- policy change; European Union countries -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Political planning -- European Union countries -- Periodicals; Politique publique -- Pays de l'Union européenne -- Périodiques; Pays de l'Union européenne -- Politique et gouvernement -- Périodiques; 361.61094
• DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2016.1268641
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1350-1763

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Studies of policy attention find only mixed support for a partisan impact, instead showing that policy attention reacts more to world events. Yet, a rigorous examination of the ways in which change in the partisan composition of government matters for the distribution of policies across issues has yet to be completed in a cross-national framework. Combining data on policy output from the Comparative Agendas Project, the authors present a detailed investigation of parties' effects on agenda stability in six advanced industrial democracies over time. The authors consider parties as dynamic organizations by arguing that parties' organizational characteristics and goals interact with their electoral context to determine their impact on policy attention. The results show that parties' influence on the policy agenda depends on economic conditions, the type of government, the government's seat share, and the number of parties in the governing cabinet, particularly following a major transition in government.