Beyond Class Politics. How Parties, Voters, Media and Unions Shape Public Policy

The demise of class politics has transformed mass-class parties into professional cartel parties and electoral machines, it has de-institutionalized party-union linkages, it has increased electoral volatility and it has rendered mass media more important. How did these political actors adapt to the context of Beyond Class Politics? This workshop aims to provide answers to the following questions: How do these transformations affect the behaviour of political actors engaged in decision-making on public policies? To what extent are governments, parties and interest groups liberated from the concerns of specific social groups and how does this influence the political goals pursued by governments, parties and interest groups? Or do they experience new forms of political uncertainty or constraints on decision-making capabilities. Have they changed their internal decision-making procedures, do they seek to build new coalitions, and how is the media platform exploited in relation to decision-making? We invite papers that deal with such questions theoretically and empirically. We welcome especially contributions based on cross-sectional and/or cross-country comparisons, and we welcome papers that use qualitative, quantitative, formal as well as mixed method techniques. Young and old researchers from various sub-disciplines (public policy, welfare state studies, party politics, media, interest groups) are invited to apply.