Trust in the American political parties and support for public policy: Why Republicans benefit from political distrust

This chapter examines the role played by political parties and think tanks in the development of policy analysis in France. It shows how party-based policy analysis is interwoven with inter and intra-party competition related to the objective of seeking office. Indeed, even though policy seeking activities do not look central in the functioning of French political parties, developments in party rationales, like those in the profile of governing parties’ elites, are favourable to intensifying interest in policy issues. Political parties’ professionalization nonetheless appears to have a marked effect on their internal production of public policy expertise: party membership is marginalised while the electoral issues and internal competition have a structuring impact. Lastly, analysis of public policy expertise production shows that it is mainly done in the vicinity of party organisations, due to the significant recourse to experts outside of parties and the role of think tanks.

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A Discussion of Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels' Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

Perspectives on Politics ◽

10.1017/s1537592716004254 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 157-158 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andrew Sabl

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Political Parties ◽

Liberal Democracy ◽

Political Change ◽

Folk Theory ◽

The Public ◽

Rational Voter ◽

Rational Preferences ◽

Theory Of Democracy ◽

The U.S

Liberal democracy is often viewed by its supporters as a system of government that responds to the informed and rational preferences of the public organized as voters. And liberal democracy is often viewed by its critics as a system that fails to respond to the informed and rational preferences of its citizens. In this book Larry Bartels and Chris Achen draw on decades of research to argue that a “realistic” conception of democracy cannot be centered on the idea of a “rational voter,” and that the ills of contemporary democracies, and especially democracy in the U.S., must be sought in the dynamics that link voters, political parties and public policy in ways that reproduce inequality. “We believe,” write the authors, “that abandoning the folk theory of democracy is a prerequisite to both greater intellectual clarity and real political change. Too many democratic reformers have squandered their energy on misguided or quixotic ideas.”

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The Impact of Civil Society on Governance in Lesotho

Insight on Africa ◽

10.1177/0975087820909333 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 129-144

Author(s):

Mphonyane Rakhare ◽

Tania Coetzee

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Civil Society ◽

Political Parties ◽

Good Governance ◽

Democratic Institutions ◽

Independent Media ◽

The Government ◽

The Impact ◽

Democratic Country ◽

Civil Societies

The article acknowledges that Lesotho governance has been characterised by unstable democracy since its attainment of independence in 1966, which makes civil society and other democratic institutions unable to pursue their roles as expected. The proposed solution to overcome predicaments that Lesotho faces was to have active and vibrant democratic institutions such as civil societies, ombudsman, political parties, independent media, independent electoral commissions and the legislative, executive and judiciary. The article aims to bridge the gap by examining published literature and documentary review, which clearly elucidate how good governance can be achieved in a democratic country with the help of active democratic institutions. The article highlights the importance of active and vibrant civil society in governance and public policy. The article concludes by justifying that in deed the government of Lesotho should accept and allow participation of civil society so as to be able to realise its contribution and the important role played by it. Also, civil society in Lesotho must distance themselves from suspicions that they are political parties in disguise.

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Political Parties and Social Policy

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199838509.013.024 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Jeffrey M. Stonecash

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Public Policy ◽

Economic Policy ◽

Social Policy ◽

Political Parties ◽

Government Programs ◽

Policy Goals ◽

Party Control ◽

The Impact ◽

Over Time

Party battles for control of government are seen as efforts to reshape public policy. In prior decades, the impact of parties was limited by divided control of branches of government. The impact of party control was also limited because neither party had a distinctive constituency with clear and different policy goals. Over time, realignment has produced parties with very different electoral bases. Republicans now are more unified and willing to cut government while Democrats are more supportive of government programs. This chapter reviews our expectations of the impact of parties, the changes that have made party control mean more, and how these changes affect policy areas like economic policy, welfare, and health care.

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Looking for the party? The effects of partisan change on issue attention in UK Acts of Parliament

European Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s175577391400040x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 49-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Shaun Bevan ◽

Zachary Greene

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Political Parties ◽

Recent Work ◽

Science Research ◽

Economic Conditions ◽

Partisan Change ◽

Use Of Data ◽

Issue Attention ◽

The Common ◽

The Stability

Political parties matter for government outcomes. Despite this general finding for political science research, recent work on public policy and agenda-setting has found just the opposite; parties generally do not matter when it comes to explaining government attention. While the common explanation for this finding is that issue attention is different than the location of policy, this explanation has never truly been tested. Through the use of data on nearly 65 years of UK Acts of Parliament, this paper presents a detailed investigation of the effect parties have on issue attention in UK Acts of Parliament. It demonstrates that elections alone do not explain changes in the distribution of policies across issues. Instead, the parties’ organizations, responses to economic conditions, and size of the parliamentary delegation influence the stability of issue attention following a party transition.

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Postwar Protest Movements in Britain: A Challenge to Parties

The Review of Politics ◽

10.1017/s0034670500034471 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 410-428 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anthony M. Messina

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Political Parties ◽

Western Europe ◽

Value Change ◽

Structural Explanation ◽

Protest Movements ◽

Popular Support

This article asks why new protest movements have recently emerged in Western Europe by focusing on the British postwar race and anti-nuclear movements. Contrary to “subjective” propositions which have attributed their emergence to inter-generational value change, this article instead proposes a “structural” explanation. It is argued that the failure of the major British political parties to articulate citizen concerns on a number of salient issues has generated extra-party initiatives whose willingness to “voice” citizen anxieties primarily explains their popular support. Once in existence, these groups further politicize the conflict over public policy through various unconventional activities.

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