Why Policy Representation Matters: The Consequences of Ideological Proximity Between Citizens and Their Governments

Elections are a fundamental element of democracy, since elected governments reflect voter preferences. At the same time, it is inevitable that policies pursued by any government closely resemble the preferences of some citizens, while alienating others who hold different views. Previous works have examined how institutional settings facilitate or hinder policy proximity between citizens and governments. Building on their findings, the book explores a series of "so what" questions: how and to what extent does the distance between individual and government positions affect citizens' propensity to vote, protest, believe in democracy, and even feel satisfied with their lives?

Using cross-national public opinion data, this book is an original scholarly research which develops theoretically grounded hypotheses to test the effect of citizen-government proximity on three dependent variables. After introducing the data (both public opinion surveys and country-level statistics) and the methodology to be used in subsequent chapters, one chapter each is devoted to how proximity or the absence thereof affects political participation, satisfaction with democracy, and happiness. Differences in political attitudes and behavior between electoral winners and losers, and ideological moderates and radicals, are also discussed in depth.

Luigi Curini is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Milan. His research centers on the spatial theory of voting, party competition and social media analysis. His articles have appeared in, among others, the European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, West European Politics, Electoral Studies and Comparative Political Studies.

Willy Jou is Assistant Professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. His research interests include public opinion, party systems, and ideology, with particular emphasis on new democracies. His articles have been published in Asian Survey, British Journal of Political Science, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, International Political Science Review, Party Politics, and other peer-reviewed journals.

Vincenzo Memoli is Assistant Professor at the University of Catania. His main research interests include democracy, public attitudes and public opinion. His articles have appeared in the Acta Politica, British Journal of Political Science, International Political Science Review, Governance, The International Journal of Press/Politics and West European Politics.