Policy Responsiveness and Multiculturalism: Dynamic Representation in the Netherlands

Public control over policy outcomes plays a central role in democratic government. It remains contested, however, to what extent and under which conditions public opinion actually shapes public policy. In this paper the focus lies on the policy domain of multiculturalism in the Netherlands. We gather data from a host of survey sources in order to construct a valid and reliable time-series of public mood multiculturalism which we then link to policy outcomes on immigration and integration policy. We pay particular attention to the changing issue salience of immigration to test whether policy responsiveness to public opinion is stronger when issues are more salient.