ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores that ideological proximity between citizens and their government can make an important difference with regard to various aspects of political attitudes and behaviour. Moreover, proximity not only exerts a direct impact, but is also relevant through its indirect mediating influence on citizens' electoral winner/loser status. A fundamental tenet of democracy is that governments are supposed to reflect the policy preferences of their citizens. A more specific, and now widely accepted, formulation of this principle is that 'policy congruence is the criterion for good representation'. In most studies of political representation, the primary touchstone for 'good representation' is that elected politicians act in accordance with the preferences of their electorate, which many cross-sectional studies referred to as 'policy congruence'. The label AVG_PROXIMITY is utilised for the average value of citizen-government PROXIMITY in every country.
