Democratic model of public policy

Party A policies

ELECTION Party A WinsParty A policy

=public policy

Party B policies

PARTY POLICY ELECTION PUBLIC POLICY

Elements of party competition

• Policies

• Image

• Leadership/personnel

• Competenceo Experience (retrospective)

o Credibility (prospective)

‘Cloth cap’ image

Michael Foot’s ‘donkey jacket’

Conservative Party logos

2004 2006

Current conservatives.com masthead

Elements of party competition

• Policies

• Image

• Leadership/personnel

• Competenceo Experience (retrospective)

o Credibility (prospective)

Duverger’s law

The simple-majority single-ballot system favours the two-party system

Maurice Duverger, Political Parties (London: Methuen, 1954), p. 217

Democratic model of public policy

Party A policies

ELECTION Party A WinsParty A policy

=public policy

Party B policies

PARTY POLICY ELECTION PUBLIC POLICY

Se-ries1

Left-right policy spectrum

LEFTe.g.RedistributionState intervention

RIGHTe.g.

Private property rightsLimited government

Se-ries1

Normal distributionof public policy preferences

LEFTRIGHT

e.g. Anthony Downs,An Economic Theory of Democracy

(New York: Harper, 1957)

Spatial theories of party competition

Se-ries1

Position of the median voter

LEFT median voterRIGHT

Se-ries1

Positions of main political parties(notional)

LEFT median voterRIGHT

Lab LibDem Con

Se-ries1

Positions of main political parties(1980s)

LEFT median voterRIGHT

Lab LibDem Con

Se-ries1

Positions of main political parties(1997-2000s)

LEFT median voterRIGHT

LibDem Lab Con

Se-ries1

Positions of main political parties(now?)

LEFT median voterRIGHT

Lab LibDem Con

Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert and Ian Budge, Parties, Policies and Democracy: Theoretical Lenses on Public Policy (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994).