Party Competition, the Transmission of Policy Agendas, and the Gap Between Electoral Priorities and Policy Outputs

There is a growing body of literature focusing on the extent to which electoral priorities translate into public policies, and the role of political actors therein. However, scholars approaching similar questions from different angles obtain somehow different answers. Comparative Manifestoes Project (CMP) scholars speak of a mandate effect visible in the congruence between electoral manifestoes and policy outputs. Similarly, the Party Pledges Project (PPP) finds high degrees of pledge fulfillment. Comparative Agendas Project (CAP) scholars, in turn, find substantive degrees of congruence but also emphasise a number of constraints to the implementation of electoral priorities.

This paper joins these different approaches in a study of the effect of party competition on government policy agendas in Italy. Based on CAP coded data, we move from observing the congruence (gap) between policy priorities as declared in party manifestoes (input), and the legislation issued once in government (output). We then seek to explain the input-output gap by tracing the transmission of policy agendas in the political process. To assess the role of majority and opposition in that process, we focus on key intermediate stages: investiture speeches, bills, and parliamentary questions. To observe the effects of party competition on the transmission of policy agendas and policy gaps, we focus on policy issues at the minor topic level.