Public policies and globalization

Abstract

With special attention to the cartel party theory and the globalization theory, Chapter 7 studies the policymaking of parties in government: Do ideological changes in the party system have an impact on policymaking in Western European polities? None of the hypotheses based on the cartel party theory is supported, but two hypotheses based on the globalization theory are supported: 1) As economic globalization increases, the effect of government parties' economic Left-Right positions on public economic policies decreases 2) As economic globalization increases, and government parties' economic ideologies affect public economic policies at a decreasing rate, the governments focus on GAL-TAN policies increases. Since our analysis shows a decreasing ideological effect of government parties on public economic policies and an increased policy focus on issues related to the non-economic GAL-TAN dimension, our findings do support the major assumptions of the globalization theory.