Publication
Title
Mechanisms of political responsiveness : the information sources shaping elected representatives' policy actions
Author
Abstract
This study examines the micro-level foundations of how policy responsiveness may come about. Our study builds on the assumption that elected officials' information source use shapes their policy actions. We analyze the variation in information sources elected officials rely on for agenda-setting and policy formulation, distinguishing between public opinion sources, advocacy sources, and expert sources. Additionally, we examine how elected officials' public opinion sources vary across individuals, parties, and political systems. Based on a 2015 survey with 345 Members of Parliament in Belgium and Canada, the results indicate that the actions of elected representatives are more affected by public opinion sources like citizens and the mass media when they initially prioritize issues for policy action, while interest groups are prominent in both stages, and parties and expert sources are more used in the policy formulation phase. Furthermore, politicians in majoritarian systems, those belonging to the opposition and members of populist parties, tend to rely more on public opinion sources than their peers in proportional systems, those in the majority and non-populist parties.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Political research quarterly. - Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication
Salt Lake City, Utah : 2024
ISSN
1065-9129
DOI
10.1177/10659129241248406
Volume/pages
(2024) , p. 1-15
Article Reference
10659129241248406
ISI
001206499400001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Information-processing by individual political actors. The determinants of exposure, attention and action in a comparative perspective (INFOPOL).
Information-processing by individual political actors. The determinants of exposure, attention and action.
The road to advocacy success: Analyzing the mechanisms shaping issue-specific interactions among interest groups and policymakers.
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 23.04.2024
Last edited 10.06.2024
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