Toward a Theory of Political Strategy in Policy Analysis

Abstract

Policy makers use political strategies when implementing public policies. This is the result of an increasing number of empirical studies—especially from research on unpopular welfare state reforms. However, an overarching theoretical framework systematizing the existing work is still missing from the literature. The present article tackles this shortcoming. Our approach starts from the assumption that the electoral consequences of policies result from the combination of two dimensions: the popularity of a policy and the attribution of responsibility for that policy. Drawing on theories of electoral support and political behavior, we unfold a catalog of strategies according to how they operate to influence these two dimensions.