Policy accommodation versus electoral turnover : policy representation in Britain, 1945-2015
Bartle, John and Dellepiane Avellaneda, Sebastian and McGann, Anthony (2019) Policy accommodation versus electoral turnover : policy representation in Britain, 1945-2015. Journal of Public Policy, 39 (2). pp. 235-265. ISSN 0143-814X (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X18000090)
Preview |
Text.
Filename: Bartle_etal_JPP_2018_Policy_accommodation_versus_electoral_turnover_policy.pdf
Final Published Version License: Download (376kB)| Preview |
Abstract
Does public policy in the UK respond to changes in public preferences? If so, is this the result of the government changing its policy to reflect preferences (‘policy accommodation’) or the result of governments that pursue unpopular policies being replaced at elections by governments more in line with the public (‘electoral turnover’)? We explore these questions by estimating aggregate public preferences (‘the policy mood’) using responses to 287 questions administered 2087 times and policy using budgetary data (‘non-military government expenditure’) for the whole of the post-war period. We find that mood moves in the opposite direction to policy and variations in mood are associated with variations in vote intentions. Policy is responsive to party control but not directly responsive to mood. Shifts in mood eventually lead to a change in government and thus policy, but this process may be very slow if the public has doubts about the competence of the opposition.
ORCID iDs
Bartle, John, Dellepiane Avellaneda, Sebastian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0318-8611 and McGann, Anthony;-
-
Item type: Article ID code: 62897 Dates: DateEvent30 June 2019Published22 April 2018Published Online2 January 2018Accepted2017SubmittedSubjects: Political Science > Political institutions (Europe) > Great Britain Department: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Government and Public Policy > Politics Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 16 Jan 2018 14:05 Last modified: 23 Sep 2024 18:41 Related URLs: URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/62897