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The evolution of public policy attitudes: comparing the mechanisms of policy support across the stages of a policy cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Sverker C. Jagers Open the ORCID record for Sverker C. Jagers [Opens in a new window] ,
Simon Matti Open the ORCID record for Simon Matti [Opens in a new window]  and
Katarina Nordblom
Sverker C. Jagers
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Centre for Collective Action Research, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Simon Matti*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Centre for Collective Action Research, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Political Science Unit, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
Katarina Nordblom
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author. Email: simon.matti@ltu.se
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Abstract

We analyse the importance of legitimacy on public policy support by comparing how drivers of public policy attitudes evolve across the policy process consisting of the input (the processes forgoing acquisition of power and the procedures permeating political decisionmaking), throughput (the inclusion of and interactions between actors in a governance system) and output (the substantive consequences of those decisions) stages. Using unique panel data through three phases of the implementation of a congestion tax in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, we find that legitimacy is indeed important in explaining policy support. Moreover, we find a lingering effect where support in one phase depends on legitimacy both in the present and in previous phases. Hence, our study takes us one step further on the road to understand the complicated dynamic mechanisms behind the interactions between policymaking, policy support, and the legitimacy and approval of politicians and political processes.

Keywords

halo effectinputlegitimacyoutputpolicythroughput
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 428 - 448
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/UCQAVW
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