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Modes of government responsiveness in the European Union: Evidence from Council negotiation positions

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  • Christopher Wratil

Abstract

Are national governments responsive to citizens’ opinions when negotiating policies in the Council of the European Union? Conceiving of the Council’s policy-making space as encompassing left-right and pro-anti integration issues, I argue that governments apply different ‘modes of responsiveness’ on these issues. As left-right issues are more reliably and intensely salient in domestic elections than pro-anti integration issues, governments’ responsiveness to left-right public opinion should be more systematic than to pro-anti integration opinion. Statistical analyses of 3700 policy positions of governments in the Council demonstrate that governments highly structure their responsiveness on left-right issues according to electoral cycles and systems (‘systematic mode’). However, they only sporadically respond to public opinion on pro-anti integration issues, when parties and events trigger the public salience of integration (‘sporadic mode’).

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  • Christopher Wratil, 2018. "Modes of government responsiveness in the European Union: Evidence from Council negotiation positions," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(1), pages 52-74, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:19:y:2018:i:1:p:52-74
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116517735599
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    2. de Wilde, Pieter & Rauh, Christian, 2019. "Going full circle: the need for procedural perspectives on EU responsiveness," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(11), pages 1737-1748.

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