This study examines how a government's majority status affects coalition governance and performance. Two steps are investigated: the inclusion of government parties' electoral pledges into the coalition agreement, and the ability to translate pledges into legislative outputs. The main results of a comparative analysis of 183 pledges of a minority (without a formal support partner) and majority coalition in the German State North Rhine-Westphalia indicate that government parties with minority status include fewer pledges in the coalition agreement. But this does not mean that they also perform badly at pledge fulfilment. In fact, they show an equivalent performance in fulfilling election pledges, at least partially, when compared to majority government parties. However, there is tentative evidence that the prime minister's party shows a lower quality of pledge fulfilment, as measured by a higher share of partially enacted pledges.
Wahlverhalten, Fragen zum politischen System, zu politischen Einstellungen und Überzeugungen.
Themen: Nationalstolz; Lebenszufriedenheit; Stimmungslage der Menschen in unmittelbarer Umgebung; Entwicklungsrichtung des Landes; Veränderungen nach 1989; antizipierte Zukunft der Gesellschaft; Unterstützung der Änderungen der gegenwärtigen Situation in der Gesellschaft, Meinung zum politischen System; Demokratiezufriedenheit; Veränderung hinsichtlich der führenden Partei und des politischen Systems; Lebensstandard der Familie sowie wirtschaftliche Entwicklung während des Sozialismus; gegenwärtig und in fünf Jahren; Haltung zum Sozialismus, Mehrparteiensystem, Arbeiterselbstverwaltung, Kapitalismus, Einparteiensystem, Privatisierung und Tito; starker Führer; Führung des Landes durch die Armee; wichtigste Entscheidungen der Experten; Republik vs. Monarchie; Erinnerungen an Titos Regentschaft; Abschaffung des Parlaments und Rückkehr zum Einparteiensystem; Macht des serbischen Präsidenten; Verantwortlichkeiten der serbischen Regierung; Vertrauen in Institutionen; Ursachen für die Unsicherheit; Einkommensunterschiede; Verantwortung für die ökonomische Situation; Verhältnis von Lohnhöhe und Arbeitsplatzsicherheit; Finanzierung der medizinischen Versorgung; Parteimitgliedschaft; frühere Parteiidentifikation; gefühlte Nähe zu den Parteien Civic Alliance of Serbia (Vesna Pesic), Democratic Party (Zoran Djindjic), Democratic Party of Serbia (Vojislav Kostunica), United Yugoslav Left (Mirjana Markovic) New Democracy (Dusan Mihajlovic), Socialist Party of Serbia (Slobodan Milosevic), Serbian Radical Party (Vojislav Seselj), Serbian Renewal Movement, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (Jozef Kasa), Coalition ´Together´, Coalition SPS-UYL-ND and Coalition ´Vojvodina´, Wahlentscheidung der Familienmitglieder; Wahlentscheidung für die gleiche Partei; Wahlentscheidung in der Bundes- und Landeswahl; Wahlbeteiligung; Zeit für Wahlentscheidung; Kandidatenlisten vs. Parteienliste oder beides; Bedeutung des Parteiführers, Parteimitgliedschaft, Parteiprogramm, Parteiaktivitäten; Akzeptanz kritischer Meinungen anderer bezüglich der unterstützten Partei; Einschätzung der Opposition; Bedeutung des Wahlgewinners; vertrauenswürdigster Politiker; Haltung zu Autoritäten; Rolle von Parteien, Demokratie und Mitbestimmung; Beteiligung der Beschäftigten im Management; Demokratieverständnis; Jugoslawien als eine Föderation aus Serbien und Montenegro; Lösung für Kosovo und Metohija und für den Status der Ungarn in der Vojvodina; größtes soziales Problem im Land; Vergleich der politischen Systeme heute und früher.
Der ResPOG-Datensatz wurde mit dem Ziel erstellt, die Responsivität des Deutschen Bundestages gegenüber der deutschen Bevölkerung (sowie sozialen Teilgruppen) zu analysieren. Um politische Responsivität empirisch untersuchen zu können, müssen sowohl die Einstellungen der Bevölkerung als auch das Handeln der Politik operationalisiert und gemessen werden, um beides miteinander in Beziehung setzen zu können. Der Datensatz enthält deshalb Informationen zur öffentlichen Meinung und politischen Entscheidungen zu 823 Sachfragen. Er basiert auf Umfragedaten, die zwischen 1980 und 2016 im Rahmen der Politbarometer und DeutschlandTrend Umfragen erhoben wurden. Die einzelnen Sachfragen aus den Umfragen bilden die Analyseeinheit im Datensatz – sie fragen nach der Zustimmung oder Ablehnung zu einer vorgeschlagenen Politikänderung beziehungsweise Reform. Um die Bevölkerungseinstellungen zu operationalisieren, wurde für verschiedene soziale Gruppen der Anteil der Zustimmung für jede einzelne Frage berechnet. Für jede Sachfrage enthält die Datenbank zudem Informationen dazu, ob die vorgeschlagene Politikänderung in einem Zeitraum von zwei beziehungsweise vier Jahren nach der Befragung vom Bundestag beschlossen wurde oder nicht. Mit diesen Dummy-Variablen wird das Handeln der Politik erfasst. Weiterhin sind für jede Frage weitere Informationen ergänzt worden, um eine differenzierte Untersuchung zu ermöglichen.
Abstract English
The ResPOG dataset was created to analyze the German Bundestag's responsiveness to the German public (and to particular social groups). In order to empirically investigate political responsiveness, both public preferences and political action must be operationalized and measured. The dataset therefore contains information on public opinion and political decisions on 823 specific policy questions. It is based on survey data from Politbarometer and DeutschlandTrend surveys conducted between 1980 and 2016. The units of analysis in the dataset are the individual policy questions: the questions ask about the agreement or disagreement with a proposed policy change or reform. In order to operationalize public preferences, the support rates for every individual issue were calculated for various social groups. Additionally, the dataset contains information on whether or not the proposed policy change was enacted by the Bundestag within two or four years after the survey. These dummy variables capture political action. Each question is supplemented by additional information to allow for nuanced analysis. For example, the questions are coded by policy area and by which coalition controlled the Bundestag at survey time.
The responsiveness of democratic institutions is a topic of fundamental importance to researchers, citizens, and decision-makers. The PolicyVotes project aimed to assemble a dataset that facilitates investigation of the responsiveness of political parties and governments to public preferences. The data collection efforts were motivated by the interest to allow researchers to examine, among many others, the following questions: Are governments responsive to citizen demands? Do we see policy changing in response to changing public preferences over time? Is a government's responsiveness to public demands more pronounced in some policy areas than in others and at some points in time than others? What is the mediating role of political institutions such as electoral systems, government types (coalition versus single-party) and executive-legislative structures? How does the degree of responsiveness of national governments compare to responsiveness of European institutions? What are the interdependencies of legislative decision-making between the national and the European level? Do national policies influence the development of European level public policies and vice versa?
The data collection we have assembled facilitates addressing these questions and others. It allows researchers to use large-N statistical methodologies to empirically test theoretical models of dynamic representation in a multilevel system of governance. It allows longitudinal comparative empirical analysis of the triangular relationship between preferences of the electorate, policy positions of parties and governments, and legislative outputs of national governments and the EU. With this data collection we are introducing efficiencies that enable researchers to examine how and under what circumstances responsiveness can be achieved in different institutional settings.
For individual-level data, we have harmonized Eurobarometers from 1970 to the 2011, the ISSP Role of Government surveys, and the EES voter Study. For measurements of party positions, we have harmonized and cross-linked the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Party Policy in Modern Democracies Dataset, the Comparative Manifesto Project data, and the EES Euromanifesto Study. For the measurements of policy output we have collected and cross-linked data for legislative output and budget outlays of 15 EU governments and the European Union.
Please refer to the How-to-Guide and the user guides in the individual trendfile folders (see Downloads/Datasets) for detailed information and citation instructions. Following trendfiles and user guides are available:
- Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Russo, Luana & Palacios, Irene (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes Eurobarometer Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Russo, Luana & Palacios, Irene (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes Eurobarometer Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Sapir, Eliyahu & Williams, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes EES Voter Study Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Sapir, Eliyahu & Williams, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes EES Voter Study Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Sapir, Eliyahu & Williams, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes ISSP Role of Government Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Sapir, Eliyahu & Williams, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes ISSP Role of Government Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Sapir, Eliyahu & Williams, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes Party Positions Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, Sapir, Eliyahu & Williams, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes Party Positions Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, & Wlezien, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes National Budgets Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, & Wlezien, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes National Budgets Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, & Wlezien, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes European Union Budget Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, & Wlezien, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes European Union Budget Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, & Wlezien, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes European Union Legislation Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, & Wlezien, Christopher (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes European Union Legislation Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, & Rahmani, Hossein (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes National Legislation Trendfile. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618 - Arnold, Christine, Franklin, Mark, Wlezien, Christopher, & Rahmani, Hossein (2023): PolicyVotes Database on Political Responsiveness. PolicyVotes National Legislation Trendfile User Guide. Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2618
