Fragile mandate

Party programmes and public expenditures in the French Fifth Republic

Bibliographic Data

ID6257747
AuthorsFrançois Pétry (University of Manitoba, corresponding author)
Year1991
Volume20
Issue2
Pages149-171
Publication date1991-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Political Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0304-4130 • E-ISSN: 1475-6765
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-6765.1991.tb00261.x
OpenAlexW2150668161
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited12

Time series regression analysis is used to test the existence of a relationship between public expenditure priorities and changes in party programme emphases in the Fifth Republic. The analysis shows that the sensitivity of public expenditures to changes in party programme content is rarely affected by party control of the executive. Instead public expenditures in several spending areas are positively linked to the programme content of one and the same party irrespective of whether that party occupies the executive or not. In other spending areas, the programme of the opposition best predicts government expenditure priorities. These findings challenge the assumption in democratic theory that the party winning elections ought to enact policies that reflect the preferences of the electorate

Civil servants · Democracy · Economics · Executive branch · Government (linguistics · Mandate · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Public expenditure · Public finance · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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