Policy Effects on Political Engagement

Abstract

Public policies addressing societal problems typically aim to change citizens’ behaviors and attitudes. While scholars frequently link cross-national differences in specific policies with individuals’ attitudinal or behavioral outcomes, the specific operating mechanisms often remain veiled. The policy feedback literature provides an explanatory framework for how policies affect citizens’ political orientations and behavior, which in turn has an impact on subsequent policy developments. This article provides an overview of policy feedback mechanisms, and reviews comparative empirical studies that link policy indicators and forms of individual-level political engagement. As illustrative examples, I have focused on social policies and immigrant integration policies as two widely publicized policy areas. Since the identification of policy effects is challenging for a number of methodological reasons, I also discuss advances related to empirical design.