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New administration, new immigration regime: do parties matter after all? A UK case study

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 02:39 authored by James HampshireJames Hampshire, Tim Bale
Research on the impact of parties on public policy, and on immigration policy in particular, often finds limited evidence of partisan influence. In this paper, we examine immigration policy-making in the UK coalition government. Our case provides evidence that parties in government can have more of an impact on policy than previous studies acknowledge, but this only becomes apparent when we open up the ‘black box’ between election outcomes and policy outputs. By examining how, when and why election pledges are turned into government policies, we show that partisan influence depends not only on dynamics between the coalition partners, but how these dynamics interact with interdepartmental conflicts and lobbying by organised interests. In-depth process tracing allows us to see these complex dynamics, which easily get lost in large-n comparisons of pledges and outputs, let alone outcomes.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

West European Politics

ISSN

0140-2382

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

1

Volume

38

Page range

145-166

Department affiliated with

  • Politics Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-08-26

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-08-26

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