Party politics remain marginal in studies of the policymaking that tend either to ignore this variable, or to emphasize their marginality or their residual character. According to many authors, parties have become unable to implement the public policies for which they have been elected, so that policies do not differ a lot depending on the party in government. They are rather seen to reflect path dependence, the resources and expertise available, and interest groups’ demands. This leads many authors to argue that policies are (increasingly) made beyond parties.

This panel proposes to rethink the link between parties and policies: Do parties in office respect their electoral promises ? What amount of policy change can be directly attributed to party politics? At what stage of the policy process parties are more likely to impact public policy? Under what conditions is partisanship in policymaking most likely? How much are parties sanctioned (or rewarded) by voters when they fail (or succeed) to respect their engagements?

This panel will hence focus on dynamics of policy change, with a focus on accountability. The idea is to contribute to understanding partisanship in policymaking by gathering several strands of international research in the field of political parties and public policy.