From preferences to policy:turnout, accountability and policy responsiveness in Dutch local government

Can citizens influence public policy through voting? This dissertation investigates all three steps in the causal chain that are necessary for policy responsiveness, being voter turnout, voting, and policy. It investigates this for municipal governments in the Netherlands. This dissertation is built on 5 novel research projects. Among others, it shows that voters in local elections in the Netherlands do keep parties accountable. This indicates that Dutch local elections are competitive which is favorable for policy responsiveness. However, it also shows that changes in the party composition of... Mehr ...