Representation in Europe: Policy Congruence between Citizens and Elites
Abstract
In real-world representative democracy, policy congruence between citizens and those elected to represent them is partial, for various reasons: representatives may deviate from what they originally promised when electoral sanction is unlikely, parties have informational advantages, or the nature of party competition in mass elections distorts the multi-dimensional character of citizen and party preferences. Yet, we know very little about the actual extent, the determinants and consequences of policy congruence between citizens and elites in Europe, at the national or the European Union levels. The project will investigate these issues by focussing on: (1) the determinants of policy congruence and the impact of political institutions and direct democracy, in particular; (2) how policy congruence impacts on the people’s perception of representation and their satisfaction with democracy as well as the perception of specific representative institutions, such as national parliaments/governments and European institutions.
REPCONG has a website.
Project Leader:
Professor Silvia Kritzinger, University of Vienna, Austria
Principal Investigators:
Dr. Gail Mcelroy, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Dr. Thomas Bräuninger, University of Konztanz, Germany
Dr. Georg Lutz, University of Bern, Switzerland
