More Power Balance, Less Consensus: Changes in Decision-Making Structures over Time

Abstract

The previous chapter uncovered that important changes have occurred in decision-making processes between the early 1970s and the early 2000s. This chapter turns to the analysis of changes in decision-making structures: that is, changes in power, cooperation and conflict relations among political actors. While the previous chapter concerned the ‘polity’ dimension of policy-making, the present chapter addresses the ‘politics’ dimension. The general claim here is that decision-making structures have also substantially transformed.