Principals or puppets? Analysing variation in local political parties’ social policy positions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9537579 |
|---|---|
| Authors | H B Broekema (Erasmus University Rotterdam, corresponding author), Menno Fenger (0000-0002-7019-9452, Erasmus University Rotterdam), H J M Fenger, Jeroen Van Der Waal (0000-0001-7565-8155, Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 456-476 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Acta Politica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-6810 • E-ISSN: 1741-1416 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41269-020-00161-9 |
| OpenAlex | W3021523890 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 28 |
The decentralisation of policy responsibilities from the national to the local level in the domain of social policies is meant to facilitate a better fit to local conditions, and, consequently, inspire local variation in social policy positions. This article examines two questions: (1) to what extent do Dutch local party branches’ social policy positions deviate from their national mother party and local peer parties and (2) do local conditions explain this deviation? To answer these questions, we developed a dataset including 168 local party manifestos from 27 strategically selected municipalities and 8 national party manifestos. Our analyses show limited deviation in local parties’ positions compared to their national mother party and other local branches of their national mother party. This suggests that the social policies addressed in the party manifestos of local parties seem to reflect a process of institutional isomorphism. Furthermore, the limited deviation that does exist in local parties’ social policy positions is not convincingly larger in municipalities (1) that are smaller, (2) that have higher social benefit dependency, or (3) that have high vote shares for local independent challengers. This is contrary to what can be expected based on the contingency theory
Comparative politics · Decentralization · Isomorphism (crystallography · Local governance · Local government · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Variation (astronomy · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
The German Local Manifesto Project (GLMP)
Determined by place or party? Issue salience in local election manifestos
Alleviating poverty through healthcare
The Netherlands Local Manifesto Project. Infrastructure for studying local party politics
Party Politics at the Local Level
Which Factors Influence Issue Salience in Electoral Manifestos? New Insights From the Salience of Social Services in Dutch Local Elections
The Contingency Theory of Organizations
The Politics of Local Government
The Politics of Local Government
The iron cage revisited institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields
Analysing and Assessing Accountability
The Dutch Social Support Act in the shadow of the decentralization dream
New modes of governance in activation policies
Representative claims in practice
The rise and fall of decentralization
Intra-Party Democracy and Party Responsiveness
Issue salience in regional and national party manifestos in the UK
Dimensions of political conflict and party positions in multi-level democracies
The Continued Relevance of Local Parties in Representative Democracies
Varieties of local politics
Party manifestos and local accountability
Analysing Local Policy Agendas
Independent Local Political Parties in the Netherlands
Scaling Policy Preferences from Coded Political Texts
Escape from the Iron Cage? Organizational Change and Isomorphic Pressures in the Public Sector
Old right or new right? The ideological positioning of parties of the far right
What Moves Parties
Party Control, Party Competition and Public Service Performance
The Party Mandate and the Westminster Model
Understanding Change and Stability in Party Ideologies
A Sequential Theory of Decentralization
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |