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Fragile mandate: Party programmes and public expenditures in the French Fifth Republic
Author(s) -
PETRY FRANÇOIS
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1991.tb00261.x
Subject(s) - mandate , opposition (politics) , public expenditure , government (linguistics) , democracy , public administration , public economics , political science , economics , civil servants , executive branch , public finance , politics , law , linguistics , philosophy
. Time series regression analysis is used to test the existence of a relationship between public expenditure priorities and changes in party programme emphases in the Fifth Republic. The analysis shows that the sensitivity of public expenditures to changes in party programme content is rarely affected by party control of the executive. Instead public expenditures in several spending areas are positively linked to the programme content of one and the same party irrespective of whether that party occupies the executive or not. In other spending areas, the programme of the opposition best predicts government expenditure priorities. These findings challenge the assumption in democratic theory that the party winning elections ought to enact policies that reflect the preferences of the electorate.