Abstract
In liberal systems governing-party-turnover and third sector organisations’ engagement in public policy-making are seen as key factors maintaining the health of democracy. However, a significant lacuna in current understanding is the effect on engagement when governing-party-turnover is absent. Accordingly, drawing on qualitative interview data, this study examines the effects of one-party-dominance (OPD) in Wales; a regional polity in the UK where the Left-of-centre Labour Party has held uninterrupted government office since a new meso-legislature was created in 1999. The findings reveal OPD introduces a range of pathologies related to party institutionalisation, path-dependency and cognitive locks. These affect third sector organisations’ resource dependency and strategic bridging to elected representatives. The resulting democratic ills are self-sustaining and include diminution of NGOs’ autonomy, trust and criticality. This study’s wider significance lies in underlining the importance of governing-party-turnover- not only to effective third sector public policy engagement, but also the health of contemporary liberal democracies.
Highlights
This study addresses a key lacuna by exploring the effects one-party-dominance (OPD) on third sector engagement in public policy-making
Twelve pathologies related to the third sector-state nexus emerge from the accounts of NGO policy actors; each with a potentially significant impact on the democratic health of the polity
At the same time it accentuates the political power of members of the dominant party; by, for example, extending the influence of ‘veto players’ who may block third sector policy demands
Summary
This study addresses a key lacuna by exploring the effects one-party-dominance (OPD) on third sector engagement in public policy-making This matters because, as the scholarly literature attests, over recent decades there has been renewed political emphasis on the democratic benefits of third sector engagement in the work of government. 18) notes, it may result in ‘a blurring of the boundary between party and state, which has the effect of reducing the likely formation of independent groups from within civil society that are autonomous from the ruling party’ To examine such matters the following analysis draws upon data from 100 one-hour research interviews undertaken in 2011–2014 with third sector managers and policy officers in Wales, a regional polity in the UK. This record has ensured that Labour has continuously held government office since the National Assembly for Wales was created in 1999.5
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