The changing face of responsibility
A cross-time comparison of French social democratic governments
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6314959 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johannes Karremans (0000-0002-8770-374X, University of Lisbon, corresponding author), Koen Damhuis (0000-0002-9344-6911, European University Institute) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 305-316 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Party Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-0688 • E-ISSN: 1460-3683 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1354068818761197 |
| OpenAlex | W2792034734 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 31 |
This article investigates the changing face of governmental responsibility through a comparative content analysis of the yearly budgetary presentations of the French ministers of economy and finance. The cases analysed are the governments under the Hollande (2012–2017) and first Mitterrand (1981–1986) presidencies. In both cases, there were strong external pressures that hindered the pursuit of expansionary budgetary policies and that forced the executives to pursue more restrictive measures. The analysis consists in a comparison of how the ministers in the two different time periods justified this policy course, hypothesizing that international institutional constraints played a more prominent role during the Hollande than during the Mitterrand presidency. By distinguishing between responsive and responsible justifications, we find that institutional constraints are indeed more prominent in the justifications provided by more recent ministers. These findings have important repercussions for understanding how the national democratic cycle functions under the conditions of European integration. In particular, they indicate that the accountability stage has a significant impact as governments do no longer take full credit for their measures, but rather present themselves as spokespersons for a web of institutions. These findings, we argue, are likely not to be peculiar to France but rather relate to a general trend in European politics
Accountability · Council of Ministers · Democracy · Economic policy · Economics · European union · Face (sociological concept · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Social science · Sociology · European Union Policy and Governance · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
The rhetoric of responsibility in party manifestos (1980–2021)
Austerity from the Left
Responsibility versus responsiveness…to whom? A theory of party behavior
More Left or Left No More? An In-depth Analysis of Western European Social Democratic Parties' Emphasis on Traditional Economic Left Goals (1944–2021)
Democratic representation and political inequality
Political alternatives under European economic governance
This Time Wasn't Different
Neither responsive, nor responsible? Citizens’ understandings of political actors’ responsiveness and responsibility in the socio-economic governance of the EU
Parties and party systems
The Transformation of European Social Democracy
The Political Business Cycle
Exchange Rate Politics in France, 1981–1983
Postindustrial Social Policy
Agenda Setting, Policies, and Political Systems
Changing France
Politics in hard times
Democracy in the Age of Globalization and Mediatization
The decline of the working-class vote, the reconfiguration of the welfare support coalition and consequences for the welfare state
Political cycles and economic performance in OECD countries
Did globalization restrict partisan politics? An empirical evaluation of social expenditures in a panel of OECD countries
Testing Times
Responsive to whom? A comparison of the Mitterrand and Hollande presidencies
The Challenge to Party Government
Responsible Party Government in a World of Interdependence
The Politics of the `Third Way
No man can serve two masters
The Quality of Democracy
What Moves Parties
State Transformations in OECD Countries
International regimes, transactions, and change
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |