Reassessing the gap-hypothesis
Tough talk and weak action in migration policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6316342 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Philipp Lutz (0000-0003-2373-0180, University of Bern, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 174-186 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| 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 | 10.1177/1354068819840776 |
| OpenAlex | W2941069610 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
| References cited | 52 |
Much of the literature on migration policy has proclaimed a gap between what parties say and what parties do. The “gap-hypothesis” expects political parties to deliver “tough talk” and “weak action” on the issue of migration. This article tests this idea empirically by asking whether political parties keep their electoral promises on migration policy. The analysis of governments across 18 West European countries between 1980 and 2014 makes use of a new cabinet-based data set of migration policy outputs and two different data sets measuring parties’ preferences on migration. The results show that governing parties enact systematically more liberal policies on immigration and integration than their electoral manifestos would suggest. The purported democratic deficit in migration policy is substantially the result of a limited fulfillment of the electoral mandate by governing parties. Nevertheless, governing parties act upon their electoral mandate dependent on the governing constraints and the electoral incentives. Overall, governments tend to deliver on their integration policy positions but not on their immigration policy positions. The manifesto–policy link is stronger in the domestic policy dimension where governments face fewer external constraints
Democracy · Economics · Immigration · Immigration policy · Incentive · Mandate · Manifesto · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Redistribution (election · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Populism, Right-Wing Movements
Folding Arms Behind Open Doors
Seeing Divides
Technocracy Revisited
An Indicator-Based Approach to Comparative Policy Analysis
Detecting anticipatory design strategies
Immigration policy congruence and political trust
Welfare Pluralism and a Policy Window in Refugee Policies
Exploring Europe’s external migration policy mix
Misperceptions about Immigration
To What Extent Does Asylum Policy Match Public Policy Preferences
Do EU policies constrain government autonomy? Insights from the implementation of EU migration policies
Policy proximity and candidate repositioning
Do Parties Matter for Environmental Policy Stringency? Exploring the Program-to-Policy Link for Environmental Issues in 28 Countries 1990–2015
Does mainstream populism work? Populist rhetoric and the electoral fortunes of mainstream parties
Policy issue salience and legislative output of populist governments
The politics of migration policy implementation in Ghana
Immigration and Politics in the New Europe
The Politicisation of Migration
Political Parties and Hard Choices
An economic theory of democracy
Veto Players
Parties and Democracy
The Politics of Switzerland
Quiet Politics and Business Power
Immigration and Public Opinion in Liberal Democracies
Controlling Immigration
Conceptualizing and measuring migration policy change
Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data
Measuring Immigration Policies
European Immigration Policies in Comparative Perspective
Revisiting the left cabinet share
How Denationalization Divides Elites and Citizens
The Emerging Migration State
Modes of Immigration Politics in Liberal Democratic States
Theorizing Migration Policy
The Power and Morals of Policy Makers
Growing Restrictiveness or Changing Selection? The Nature and Evolution of Migration Policies 1
Growing Restrictiveness or Changing Selection? The Nature and Evolution of Migration Policies 1
Immigration Policy in France and Germany
Variation in policy success
Immigration policy and electoral competition in Western Europe
Panel data analysis and partisan variables
Immigration, national identity and political trust in European democracies
Mandates and Policy Outputs
The extreme-right and immigration policy-making
Elites and the ‘organised public
Actors and venues in immigration control
Partisan Influence on Immigration
Do Party Manifestos Matter in Policy-Making? Capacities, Incentives and Outcomes of Electoral Programmes in France
Responsive Government? Public Opinion and Government Policy Preferences in Britain and Denmark
Measuring Parties’ Ideological Positions With Manifesto Data
Immigration, left and right
Party politics and education spending
Migration policy trends in OECD countries
What Motivates the Gatekeepers? Explaining Governing Party Preferences on Immigration
Multidimensional government-citizen congruence and satisfaction with democracy
The programme to policy linkage
Partisanship in the setting and coordination of fiscal and monetary policies
Coalition Policy in Parliamentary Democracies
The Fulfillment of Parties’ Election Pledges
Testing the Mandate Model in Britain and the United States
The Public Thermostat, Political Responsiveness and Error-Correction
Niche Party Success and Mainstream Party Policy Shifts - How Green and Radical Right Parties Differ in Their Impact
Party mandate theory and time-series analysis
The Effectiveness of Immigration Policies
The Gap between Public Preferences and Policies on Immigration
| Unique citing works | 16 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 16 |