Office and Policy at the Expense of Votes: Plaid Cymru and the One Wales Government

Craig McAngus

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper will examine Plaid Cymru's experience in government from 2007 to 2011. Drawing on literature on autonomist parties, parties in government for the first time, and Strøm and Müller's policy/office/votes framework, the paper examines where strategic 'trade-offs’ were made and what the consequences of such trade-offs were. The paper takes a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interview and documentary data. The paper finds that Plaid Cymru valued the policy-seeking potential of office at the expense of vote-seeking ones because of the importance of 'autonomist' goals, namely the 2011 referendum which saw primary law-making powers granted to the Welsh Assembly. Furthermore, the experience of governmental office exposed organizational vulnerabilities in the party's leadership structures which undermined the ability to construct an effective vote-winning strategy at the 2011 Welsh election, where the party lost four seats.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)209-227
Number of pages19
JournalRegional and Federal Studies
Volume24
Issue number2
Early online date12 Dec 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Plaid Cymru
  • devolution
  • autonomist parties
  • government
  • party elites
  • political parties

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