Assessing Political Representation in Europe
It has long been realised that democratic governance requires a two-way flow of influence. Governments must be able to respond to what people want and people must be able to react to what governments do. These mechanisms of democratic governance have contributed to two research traditions: one, the responsible party approach, views policy change as a consequence of electoral turnover; and the other, the dynamic representation approach, views policy change as occurring in rational anticipation of electoral repercussions.
The aim of this book is to evaluate the state of political representation in contemporary Europe in the light of these two approaches. The chapters present fresh insight into issue congruence between voters and parties and into the extent of dynamic representation. The chapters are logically clustered into three groups: one group of scholars bases their work on the responsible party model and applies it to voters and European parties and party groups; a second group of scholars demonstrates the importance of institutional structures on the degree of issue congruence; and a third group of scholars examines the reciprocal nature of dynamic representation and the effects of institutions on the opinion-policy connection.
This book was previously published as a special issue of West European Politics.
Christine Arnold is an Assistant Professor at Maastricht University, Netherlands. Her research interests are in comparative politics, EU politics and European integration, public opinion, political representation, large-scale data analysis and quantitative methods. Her articles have been published in Political Studies, West European Politics, International Studies Quarterly, European Union Politics and other journals. Work for this book was partially completed while she was a Marie Curie Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.
Mark N. Franklin was the Inaugural Stein Rokkan Professor of Comparative Politics at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy. He is an Emeritus Professor at Trinity College Connecticut, USA, currently visiting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. His main research interests lie in British, European and American government and political economy, political methodology, and the attitudes and behaviour of elites and mass publics. Work for this book was completed while he was a Fellow in Residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and Humanities.
West European Politics Series
Edited by
Klaus H. Goetz, University of Potsdam, Germany
Anand Menon, Kings College London, UK
Wolfgang C. Mller, University of Vienna, Austria
West European Politics has established itself as the foremost journal for the comparative analysis of European political institutions, politics and public policy. Its comprehensive scope, which includes the European Union, makes it essential reading for both academics and political practitioners. The books in this series have originated from special issues published by West European Politics.
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Norway in Transition
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Policy Change and Discourse in Europe
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Politics and Policy in Greece
The challenge of modernisation
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Frances Political Institutions at 50
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Interest Group Politics in Europe
Lessons from EU Studies and Comparative Politics
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Italy A Contested Polity
Edited by Martin Bull and Martin Rhodes
European Politics
Pasts, presents, futures
Edited by Klaus H. Goetz, Peter Mair and Gordon Smith
The Politics of Belgium
Institutions and policy under bipolar and centrifugal federalism
Edited by Marleen Brans, Lieven De Winter and Wilfried Swenden
Towards a New Executive Order in Europe
Edited by Deirdre Curtin and Morten Egeberg
The Structure of Political Competition in Western Europe
Edited by Zsolt Enyedi and Kevin Deegan-Krause
Accountability and European Governance
Edited by Deirdre Curtin, Peter Mair and Yannis Papadopoulos
Understanding Electoral Reform
Edited by Reuven Y. Hazan and Monique Leyenaar
Dynamics of Change in the European Union
Edited by Daniel Naurin and Anne Rasmussen
Assessing Political Representation in Europe
Edited by Christine Arnold and Mark N. Franklin
First published 2014
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The chapters in this book were originally published in West European Politics, volume 35, issue 6 (October 2012). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:
Chapter 1
Introduction: Issue Congruence and Political Responsiveness
Christine Arnold and Mark N. Franklin
West European Politics, volume 35, issue 6 (October 2012) pp. 1217-1225
Chapter 2
