Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 605-627 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | West European politics |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 18 Dec 2015 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Abstract
Keywords
- European Council, European Union, Political responsiveness, policy agenda, public opinion
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Political Science and International Relations
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In: West European politics, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2016, p. 605-627.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Agenda responsiveness in the European Council: public priorities, policy problems and political attention
AU - Alexandrova, Petya
AU - Rasmussen, Anne
AU - Toshkov, Dimiter
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - The existence of political responsiveness in multi-level systems like the EU remains an open question despite significant recent research on the topic. This article studies whether the European Council responds to the shifting policy priorities of European citizens. More specifically, it explores the synchronic and diachronic associations between what people consider to be the most important problems and the political attention devoted to these issues from 2003 to 2014. The economic crisis after 2008 appears to have made the ranking of public concerns and the European Council agenda more alike. However, a detailed examination of the shifts in prioritisation of single issues over time reveals little evidence for dynamic issue responsiveness. Recently the European Council has paid more attention to the issues that the public considered the most pressing problems but the convergence could possibly be driven by the intensity of the underlying policy problems.
AB - The existence of political responsiveness in multi-level systems like the EU remains an open question despite significant recent research on the topic. This article studies whether the European Council responds to the shifting policy priorities of European citizens. More specifically, it explores the synchronic and diachronic associations between what people consider to be the most important problems and the political attention devoted to these issues from 2003 to 2014. The economic crisis after 2008 appears to have made the ranking of public concerns and the European Council agenda more alike. However, a detailed examination of the shifts in prioritisation of single issues over time reveals little evidence for dynamic issue responsiveness. Recently the European Council has paid more attention to the issues that the public considered the most pressing problems but the convergence could possibly be driven by the intensity of the underlying policy problems.
KW - European Council
KW - European Union
KW - Political responsiveness
KW - policy agenda
KW - public opinion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84950105168&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01402382.2015.1104995
DO - 10.1080/01402382.2015.1104995
M3 - Article
VL - 39
SP - 605
EP - 627
JO - West European politics
JF - West European politics
SN - 0140-2382
IS - 4
ER -