Party control, party competition and public service performance

George A. Boyne*, Oliver James, Peter John, Nicolai Petrovsky

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This article assesses party effects on the performance of public services. A policy-seeking model, hypothesizing that left and right party control affects performance, and an instrumental model, where all parties strive to raise performance, are presented. The framework also suggests a mixed model in which party effects are contingent on party competition, with parties raising performance as increasing party competition places their control of government at increasing risk. These models are tested against panel data on English local governments' party control and public service performance. The results question the traditional account of left and right parties, showing a positive relationship between right-wing party control and performance that is contingent on a sufficiently high level of party competition. The findings suggest left-right models should be reframed for the contemporary context.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)641-660
    Number of pages20
    JournalBritish Journal of Political Science
    Volume42
    Issue number3
    Early online date21 Feb 2012
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2012

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