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Veto Points Revisited: The Role of Party System Institutionalization in Welfare State Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2021

Tamara Popic*
Affiliation:
School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: t.popic@qmul.ac.uk

Abstract

This article argues that the impact of veto points on a government's policy outcomes depends crucially on the degree of institutionalization of the party system. Specifically, the article claims that two dimensions of party system institutionalization – stability of relations between parties and between parties and voters – condition the ability of the opposition to block governments' policy plans through veto points. It showcases this argument by applying the method of causal process tracing to a comparative analysis of health policy reforms in Slovakia (2002–2004) and Hungary (2006–2008).

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Government and Opposition Limited

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