PARTY POLICIES AND GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY - A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE NETHERLANDS AND NORWAY

This article deals with the accountability of coalition governments in multi-party systems. How does government responsibility affect popula r support for parties? To what extent are 'blame' and 'credit' conditi oned by the ideological distinctiveness of the parties concerned? Thes e questions are analysed by investigating the electoral fate of incumb ent parties in The Netherlands and Norway Two case studies from these countries are also presented. The analysis reveals that it is rare for parties in a coalition government to suffer the same electoral fate. In the Dutch system, only the Liberal Conservatives show a fairly cons istent pattern of losing as incumbents. This fate is shared by the Nor wegian Conservatives. Analysis of the aggregate election results sugge sts that parties competing on the left-right dimension are penalized m ore for incumbency than are parties with other ideological leanings. I n addition, the two case studies support the proposition that 'blame' and 'credit' are related to the economic performance of the government in general and the ideological distinctiveness of the parties in part icular. Overall, the analysis indicates that voter expectations toward s government performance are related to the control that the various p arties can exert over distinct areas of policy.