Party Responsiveness and Socio-Economic Problem-Solving in Western Democracies

What factors influence party responsiveness to socio-economic problems in OEeD countries? Four alternative regression equations are tested that model the influence of objective conditions, public prefer-ences and party ideology. It appears that the way political parties respond to socio-economic problems is mainly determined by their left-right ideology. The influence of alternative factors is much weaker. Furthermore, party responsiveness is not only bounded by left-right ideology, but also by the institutional environment in which parties operate, i.e the welfare state regime. KEY WORDS _ decision-making _ institutions _ party responsiveness In democratic societies political parties playa central role in transforming public problems into public policies. By reacting to public concerns, they fulfil their democratic role of representatives of the general interest. Party responsiveness may be defined as the extent to which parties represen