Two Sides of the Same Coin? Congruence and Responsiveness as Representative Democracy's Currencies

Abstract

The public opinion–policy linkage has received scholarly attention for a long time. After all, this linkage is not only a key characteristic of democracy, but one of the most important aspects and quality criteria of a functioning representative democracy. Despite more than 50 years of political science research, there is still a lot of controversy about how the linkage between public opinion and policy actually works. Two related but distinct strands have formed in the literature—one focusing on responsiveness, the other on congruence. While both schools of thought are ultimately interested in the link between public opinion and representatives’ position or behavior they pursue two different strategies leading to confusion over the concepts and measurement in question. We provide a mutually exclusive conceptualization of congruence and responsiveness and structure the review of the extensive literature accordingly. In addition to providing greater theoretical coherence, our conceptualization fosters further development in the field by deliberately combining the two concepts with the research strands on public policy and representation. We conclude with a call for a more integrated research agenda and introduce a novel concept of “congruent responsiveness.”

Singing Together or Apart? Comparing Policy Agenda Dynamics within International Organizations

“…The meaning of agenda congruence is rather simple: Agenda congruence occurs whenever two (political) entities devote their attention to the same issue at the same time. These two entities can be voters and parties (Reher 2016), citizens and the government (Beyer and Hänni 2018), or interest groups and the public (Kimball et al 2012). Yet, as in our case, it might also refer to the synchrony of issues being dealt with in IO's decision-making bodies and by the administration (Bevan 2015).…”

The 2018 Public Policy Yearbook: Recent Trends in Public Policy Research

“…Daniela Beyer and Miriam Hänni () discuss the persistent controversy about how the public opinion–policy link actually works. Despite more than 50 years of political science research on linkages between public opinion and public policy, consensus remains elusive.…”

Electoral Vulnerability, Party Affiliation, and Dyadic Constituency Responsiveness in U.S. Legislatures

“…Whether policymakers generally act in line with the people that they represent is a critical question for students of democracy (Beyer & Hänni, 2018). There are many factors that might shape this process, but electoral considerations are thought to be critical in ensuring responsiveness to district opinion (Gay, 2007;Griffin, 2006;Kuklinski, 1977;Mansbridge, 2003).…”