Pillar or Piece of Local Democracy? Contemporary Developments in the Role of the Councillor

Abstract

Local democracy in Europe is representative democracy and the councillor occupies a central position in the dynamics of local politics. Despite the continued centrality of the councillor to local democracy the trends and patterns that have emerged in the development of the councillor’s role as a representative, a decision-maker and as a governor of the municipality with policy responsibilities (see, Mouritzen and Svara, 2002) are nevertheless under-researched. The changing nature and context of local government places a strain on pre-conceived notions of the councillor’s role and on local democracy (Kersting and Vetter 2003, Denters and Rose, 2005). The contested shift from local government to governance and developing institutional arrangements for local government have recast the context within which councillors conduct their activities and changed the relationship between council, executive and citizens (John, 2001, Hansen, 2001). Participatory pressure faces local representative democracy and the councillor with the need to balance a range of inputs to the political system, which can both undermine and reinforce their roles (Delwit et al, 2007). Contemporary councils are thus pillars and pieces of local democracy. The panel aims are to enable academics to present papers to address and discuss the following: • How can councillors’ roles as a representative, decision-maker and ‘governor, be better understood and conceptualised? • How have different contextual, constitutional, political, and democratic arrangements and trends and the spread of new models and notions of local democracy influenced the development of the councillor’s role? • How can better understanding councils and councillors improve the development of theories of local government, democracy and representation? The panel encourages empirical and comparative papers but welcomes theoretical and single country or case contributions. The most suitable papers from the panel will be published in a themed issue of Local Government Studies.

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