Some scholars contend that governments are not to be expected to yield to public demands and preferences between elections, as citizens have their chance to influence policy-making through the electoral process. Politicians are expected to anticipate and reflect citizens’ preferences in their electoral platforms, and thus responsiveness should emerge during elections. Between elections, representative government entails citizens having already attributed a representative mandate to elected legislators and governments. The relationship between mandates, representation and responsiveness is crucial from a democratic theory perspective, yet it has been little analyzed. To illustrate the normative and analytical implications of electoral mandates in the study of governmental responsiveness, this paper compares two different policy-making junctures ⎯ nuclear energy policy after the Fukushima disaster and the policy making process that aimed at passing legislation regulating internet piracy ⎯ in around 20 Western democracies.
