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- Title
Attitude Change and Policy Decisions: The Case of Norwegian Alcohol Policy.
- Authors
Saglie, Jo
- Abstract
In a democracy, political decisions ought to be based on public opinion. In practice, however, the mechanisms connecting voter preferences and public policy are complex, and it appears that public opinion may be partly policy-shaping and partly shaped by policy. In this article, some of these mechanisms are discussed. The article presents, first, three models of public reactions to policy decisions. These models are then applied in an analysis of the liberal trends in Norwegian alcohol policy as well as attitudes towards this policy. The results are consistent with a "consumer model", where citizens evaluate public policy according to their preferences. as well as a "support model", where they tend to follow and support decisions made by political leaders. A "discontent model", where implementation brings about less acceptance of a policy, is not supported by the data.
- Subjects
NORWAY; DEMOCRACY; POLITICAL science; POLITICAL systems; PUBLIC opinion; POLITICAL planning; ALCOHOL control laws; PUBLIC administration; PRACTICAL politics
- Publication
Scandinavian Political Studies, 1996, Vol 19, Issue 4, p309
- ISSN
0080-6757
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9477.1996.tb00397.x