Identity, Politics and Democracy at the Local Level and Beyond

Abstract

Collective identities have increasingly attracted the attention of scholars from nearly all sub-disciplines of political science. Yet, we still know far too little about the origins of identity on the one hand and how identity issues are linked to the micro-dimension and subjective underpinnings of politics, especially citizens’ political orientations and behavior on the other hand. In the panel “Identity, local politics and local democracy” within the section “Identity and Political Behaviour” we want to look at the origins and consequences of identity at the local level. By local identity we mean an individual’s attachment to his or her municipality of residence. Local identity is considered as an important requirement for other attitudes towards politics as well as individual civic and political engagement. Only those people who feel attached to their community and identify with their place of residence develop curiosity for social and political events. In the panel we discuss contributions from a broad range of theoretical and especially empirical approaches. Therefore, we have three objectives. First, we consider the origins of local identity. We are looking for individual and contextual determinants of local identity, i.e. an individual’s attachment to its community. What are the origins of local identity? Second, we want to focus on the effects of (local) identity on political orientations and political behavior. How and why does local identity have an impact on political orientations and political behavior? Are there different effects from identity on attitudes and behavior comparing local, national and european politics? Third, we are looking for the relationship between local, national and european identity. How does local identity affect national or even European identity?