%0 Journal Article
%T Modes of government responsiveness in the European Union: Evidence from Council negotiation positions
%A Christopher Wratil
%J European Union Politics
%@ 1741-2757
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1465116517735599
%X Are national governments responsive to citizens¡¯ opinions when negotiating policies in the Council of the European Union? Conceiving of the Council¡¯s policy-making space as encompassing left-right and pro-anti integration issues, I argue that governments apply different ¡®modes of responsiveness¡¯ on these issues. As left-right issues are more reliably and intensely salient in domestic elections than pro-anti integration issues, governments¡¯ responsiveness to left-right public opinion should be more systematic than to pro-anti integration opinion. Statistical analyses of 3700 policy positions of governments in the Council demonstrate that governments highly structure their responsiveness on left-right issues according to electoral cycles and systems (¡®systematic mode¡¯). However, they only sporadically respond to public opinion on pro-anti integration issues, when parties and events trigger the public salience of integration (¡®sporadic mode¡¯)
%K Council of the European Union
%K democratic deficit
%K electoral systems
%K government responsiveness
%K salience
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1465116517735599