Word given, word kept ? A study of the implementation of president Nicolas Sarkozy’s electoral pledges (2007-2012)

This article studies the link between electoral pledges to voters and the policies effectively implemented once in power, with a focus on Nicolas Sarkozy’s term in office (2007-2012). In order to bridge the gap between representative mandate theories and contrasting results in the “do-parties-matter” literature, we treat this question from a new angle, focused on pledges made in electoral manifestos. We start by systematically evaluating each pledge made by Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 campaign. Then, we assess how far these pledges were respected during the presidential term. Finally, we try to evaluate whether some types of pledges are more likely to be fulfilled than others. If more than half of the 164 pledges made in Nicolas Sarkozy’s manifesto have been at least partially implemented, some types of pledges tend to be more respected than others. This is notably the case of “hard” (precisely formulated) pledges, as well as pledges regarding means (rather than ends).