Budgeting is a key aspect of governmental behaviour. Research on budgeting has taken various theoretical and methodological approaches, and these differences have prevented scholars from discussing their common topic. In this collection, we have gathered a group of prominent scholars to explore the intermingling of budgets and politics from an assortment of theoretical and methodological perspectives. It highlights not only the breadth of current research but also the range of what remains underexplored. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

While governments prefer to alter budgets to fit their ideological stances, the domestic and international contexts can facilitate or constrain behavior. The Politics of Budgets demonstrates when governments do and do not make preferred budgetary changes. It argues for an interconnected view of budgets and explores both the reallocation of expenditures across policy areas and the interplay among budgetary components. While previous scholars have investigated how politics and economics shape a single budgetary category, or collective categories, this methodologically rich study analyzes data for thirty-three countries across thirty-five years to provide a more comprehensive theoretical approach: a 'holistic' framework about the competition and contexts around the budgetary process and an of examination of how and when these factors affect the budgetary decision-making processes.

Budgeting is a key aspect of governmental behaviour. Research on budgeting has taken various theoretical and methodological approaches, and these differences have prevented scholars from discussing their common topic. In this collection, we have gathered a group of prominent scholars to explore the intermingling of budgets and politics from an assortment of theoretical and methodological perspectives. It highlights not only the breadth of current research but also the range of what remains underexplored. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.