Exploring New Challenges to the Opinion-Policy Link

Abstract

According to May (1978, 1) a representative democracy is characterized by “a continuous correspondence between government’s decisions and the will of the citizens”. In this context, representatives organize ‘the will of the citizens’, and they should induce governments to be responsive. The looming financial and economic crisis brings this connection once again to the fore as it highlights new challenges to the traditional understanding of representative democracy. Traditionally, two questions have come to the forefront in studies regarding political representation: one relates to issue congruence and party democracy, that is, how close a match there is between the wishes of voters and the 2 policies proposed (and perhaps enacted) by representatives. The other question relates to political responsiveness, that is, how policy outputs change with changes in public opinion. The aim of our panel is to explore these aspects of political representation, considering different aspects of this connection (Pitkin 1967): §those who are represented – voters or more broadly public opinion §those who do the representing –representatives, parties, interest groups §the setting in which representation is made – national and European levels §the issue being represented - policy interest, and dimension(s) to organise policy options The panel welcomes both conceptual and empirical contributions, including different methodologies and measures of representation. More specifically, we welcome papers dealing with political representation at the national and European levels and the various challenges this brings with it. On the one hand, traditional models for representation are subject to much debate at the national level since the opinion-policy link appears to be weaker than before. On the other hand, the EU has emerged as a political space in search of a new model of political representation in need of further investigations. By bringing together research from different universities across Europe, this panel may provide a diagnose of the current condition of the assumed link between opinion and policy. It also has ramifications for studies on the quality of democracy in Europe today.

Title	Details
Linking Election Pledges to Policy Outcome – The Austrian Case	View Paper Details
Electoral Systems and Distribution of ideological Preferences: A New Approach to the Ideological Congruence Controversy	View Paper Details
Do they really know what People Think? Validity of Public Opinion Measures in responsiveness research	View Paper Details
Issue Salience Congruence – A new measure of Substantive Representation and its effect on satisfaction with Democracy	View Paper Details