Representation and Responsiveness

Abstract

How well do parties fulfil their role as representatives? The panel aims to explore different aspects of the link between parties and citizens, and to explain variation in party-voter congruence. According to the responsible party model, voters should be able to choose a party whose political program corresponds with their own preferences. But as the degree of clarity of electoral commitments varies among different parties, it is sometimes hard for voters to determine parties’ intentions for the upcoming parliamentary term. The translation of electoral programmes into policy output is also crucial to the idea of the responsible party model. The ability of a government to enact electoral commitments depends on several factors, such as the ideological congruence within or between government parties, or increasing demand for national governments to deal with global challenges. In addition to ideological congruence, the panel scrutinises the responsiveness of legislative behaviour and examines different party strategies.

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