Assessing Party Effects on Local Policies: A Quarter Century of Progress or Eternal Recurrence?

Abstract

Fifty studies which test the impact of political parties on local policy variation in the UK are evaluated. A major feature of these studies over the last twenty-five years is the recurrence of the same conceptual and methodological problems. It appears that there has been little progress towards a better understanding of the impact of parties. The results suggest that party political variables are insignificant in a majority of cases. However, problems in the evidence suggest that party effects have been substantially underestimated: the measurement of party politics is weak and the conceptualization of the impact of parties is shallow. Thus progress can be discerned, despite the recurrence of these problems.