Abstract
Cabinets are the engine of policy change in parliamentary systems. Yet, we still know little about how cabinets micro-manage the content of their multifaceted agenda during their term in office. Drawing on the party and agenda-setting literature, this article addresses this gap by focusing on three main determinants of cabinet priorities: issue priorities in the electoral platforms of majority and opposition parties, and new and unforeseen problems as conveyed by the media. Our analysis reveals that (1) majority platforms have a stronger impact on the cabinet agenda than those of opposition parties, but this effect decreases as the legislative term progresses; (2) cabinet agendas do take into consideration opposition electoral priorities but only when the latter are expressed by mainstream competitors or when the media focus on them and (3) an externally imposed adjustment programme can also create the conditions for strengthening the congruence between electoral and cabinet agendas.
Highlights
Understanding the dynamics of governments’ issue prioritisation is central to the study of democratic political systems
Inspired by the party and agenda-setting literature (e.g. Froio et al, 2017; GreenPedersen and Walgrave, 2014), this article sets out to develop an explanatory attentionbased model of cabinet agenda-setting revolving around three main determinants: the electoral agenda of its supporting party/coalition, issues in the opposition platform and new and unforeseen problems as conveyed by the media
The impact of the party programme should be greater at the start of the mandate, especially in the case of government parties. This results from the convergence of a number of factors: some sort of ‘honeymoon effect’, whereby the high level of popularity enjoyed by the incumbent in the first months in office usually wanes as time goes by and this makes the passage of important reforms less likely; as the legislature progresses and electoral pledges make it to the statute book, government parties gain freedom to focus on new policy issues, not included in their manifestos; the government’s need to adapt to changes in public opinion or to unexpected events during the mandate (Peterson et al, 2003)
Summary
Understanding the dynamics of governments’ issue prioritisation is central to the study of democratic political systems. The advantage of our research design, and our first contribution to the literature, is that the simultaneous effects of majority and opposition electoral priorities on the regular agenda of the cabinet can be assessed, while controlling for the relevance of external problems as conveyed in the media.6
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