Partisan Policy-Making in Western Europe - How Ideology Influences the Content of Government Policies

Sebastian Hartmann aims at answering the question whether socioeconomic policies implemented by governments are generally rather similar or whether their content actually varies with the ideological background of governments. In addition, he wants to find out whether government characteristics such as coalition or minority situations impact the degree of partisan policy-making. The author employs a new dataset of social and economic policies collected for several Western European countries. By conducting a wide range of empirical analyses and by using an innovative approach for analysing the policy output, he shows that ideology indeed matters. However, the degree of its influence is contingent upon structural characteristics of governments.

List of contents

Party Ideology.- Theory for Studying Policy Outputs.- The Political Business Cycle.- Partisan Policy-Making in Coalitions and Minority Governments.- The Effects of Coalitions on Government Policy Positions.- The Distribution of Left and Right Policy Measures.

About the author

Sebastian Hartmann studied social sciences in Mannheim and Tartu (Estonia) and holds a doctorate in political science.

Summary

Sebastian Hartmann aims at answering the question whether socioeconomic policies implemented by governments are generally rather similar or whether their content actually varies with the ideological background of governments. In addition, he wants to find out whether government characteristics such as coalition or minority situations impact the degree of partisan policy-making. The author employs a new dataset of social and economic policies collected for several Western European countries. By conducting a wide range of empirical analyses and by using an innovative approach for analysing the policy output, he shows that ideology indeed matters. However, the degree of its influence is contingent upon structural characteristics of governments.

Product details

• Authors: Sebastian Hartmann
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2014
• EAN: 9783658081966
• ISBN: 978-3-658-08196-6
• No. of pages: 353
• Dimensions: 151 mm x 211 mm x 3 mm
• Weight: 480 g
• Illustrations: XIV, 353 p. 23 illus.
• Series: Springer VS
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Comparative and international political science; Wirtschaftspolitik, Politikwissenschaft, Europa, B, POLITICAL SCIENCE / General, Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie, Vergleichende Politikwissenschaften, Politik / Politikwissenschaft, Politologie, Europa / Politik, Zeitgeschichte, International Relations, Political Theory, Political science & theory, Political Science and International Studies, Political Economy, Comparative Politics, Political science and theory, International Political Economy