“It’s all about local politics”: understanding councillors' perceptions on the functions of local government in Europe

The increasing emphasis on decentralization (Teles, 2023) and local government reforms across Europe (Swianiewicz, Gendźwiłł, & Zardi, 2017) has highlighted the centrality of three fundamental values in local governance: autonomy, participation, and efficiency (Sharpe, 1970). These values serve as benchmarks for evaluating the performance and legitimacy of local governments and are closely interlinked, shaping how local governments operate and how they are perceived by both councillors and citizens (Stewart & Greenwood, 1995), particularly against multiple reform experiences (Erlingsson and Ödalen, 2013; Chandler, 2010; and Forrest, 2017). However, while the importance of these values is widely acknowledged, significant gaps remain in understanding how they are prioritized, how they interact, and why their salience varies across different national and subnational governance contexts in Europe. This paper explores the "value-landscape" of local self-government, offering an in-depth analysis of how municipal councillors across Europe perceive and prioritize autonomy, participation, and efficiency. The study draws on a robust dataset from an extensive survey involving over 34,000 councillors from 28 European countries, providing a comprehensive overview of the factors influencing councillors' value preferences. Key questions guide this research: Do local agendas and priorities shape councillors' value preferences more than national party ideologies or political alignments? Are territorial characteristics, such as municipal size and the degree of urbanization, or governance dynamics, including the level of local autonomy and recent reforms, more critical in explaining value preferences than previously suggested by scholarship on party politics? How does a councillor's specific role—such as being in opposition—affect their perceptions of the core functions of local government? The paper addresses these questions by analyzing how contextual factors, institutional frameworks, and individual characteristics interact to shape value perception. Findings reveal not only significant variations across countries but also the nuanced interplay between local autonomy, democracy, and administrative efficiency. These insights challenge assumptions about the dominance of party ideology in shaping councillors’ perceptions, highlighting instead the importance of local dynamics and territorial considerations. This paper aims at making an original contribution to the study of local self-government and politics. It bridges debates on local party politics and the broader theoretical frameworks that underpin decentralization and local democracy. In doing so, this research sheds light on the evolving role of municipal councillors, navigating the complex tensions between competing political values within their specific institutional and territorial contexts.