Representation as a Continuous Game – Generating Public Acceptance of School Closures

The burden of making controversial decisions comes with the position as a political representative. Still, the success of the individual representative, as well as the democratic system as a whole, lies in the capacity to generate and sustain legitimacy in the eyes of the public. While most research in the field focuses on the processes leading up to the decision, this paper draws attention to developments after the final authoritative decision is taken. The nature and character of the procedural arrangements that precedes the decision are, however, treated an integral aspect of the post-decision phase as a they set a mind frame through which post-decision actions of politicians are interpreted. Theoretically, we identify four post-decision factors under the control of politicians that potentially affect the acceptance of controversial decisions: that politicians provide post-decision justifications, that politicians are willing to engage in a continued dialogue on how to handle negative consequences of the decision, that politicians show respect by personally meeting the ones most concerned, and that politicians remind the losing camp about the rules of the democratic game. Using the case of the closure of a local school, we design a conjoint experiment with a representative sample of Swedish citizens in which we vary the process leading up to the decision, whether or not an individual is directly affected by the decision, and the post-decision actions of politicians.