Local Political Participation: What Difference Does it Make?

Abstract

Most direct forms of political engagement occur at the local level of government. There is a vast literature on the factors that explain why some citizens make use of participatory opportunities at the local level and others don’t. But far less is known about the effects of local political engagement? According to a popular argument in democratic theory active, direct involvement in local politics is thought to have positive effects on the civic skills and civic attitudes of individual citizens (the municipality as a school for democracy). Moreover, it is also argued that the greater accessibility and higher degree of active citizen involvement provides the local tier of government with a greater capacity for responsiveness towards citizen demands and a higher degree of legitimacy among the public than higher tiers of government. In this panel we welcome papers that will assess the empirical validity of such claims about the effects of non-electoral participation in local politics. In this panel we adopt a broad definition of local political participation that not only focuses on citizens’ activities aimed at voicing demands and needs vis-à-vis their local government but also includes direct problem-solving activities of citizens intended to solve collective problems in their neighbourhood or community (so-called citizens’ initiatives or informal governance).

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