Citizens versus Parties: Explaining Institutional Change in German Local Government, 1989–2008

Local Councillors and Citizens. An exploratory study of the interaction between councillors and citizens in 4 municipalities in the Meuse-Rhine Euregion

“…Distinguishing between local party democracy and local citizen democracy, Vetter (2009) argues that all over the German Länder this change from party domination to growing citizen influence took place. NorthRhine Westphalia is among the states "where change was greatest" (p. 126).…”

“…The data of this survey were collected between and 2009, Egner, Sweeting and Klok (2013 edited a volume called Local councillors in Europe, which was entirely based on the MAELG data. In the Netherlands, Denters and Klok (2013) published a MAELG survey-based analysis of role perceptions of councillors (the importance councillors attribute to their tasks) and their role behaviour (the actual contribution of councillors).…”

Representation as Interactive Communication

“…This development has inspired scholars to claim that we are experiencing a rediscovery of the citizen in representative democracy (Klijn & Koppenjan 2000;Vetter 2009). Among the many institutional and attitude changes grouped in this development, one important trend is the increasing emergence of participatory initiatives, various forms of citizen consultations, citizen panels, user boards, and other platforms initiated from the top-down intended to stimulate vertical communication outside of the political parties in democratic systems (Copus 2003;Fung 2004;Zittel & Fuchs 2007;Smith 2009).…”

Untitled

“…The Municipal Assemblies in European Local Government (MAELG) survey of approximately twelve thousand councillors from all over Europe provides a good fundament to investigate country differences. The data of this survey were collected between and 2009, Egner, Sweeting and Klok (2013 edited a volume called Local councillors in Europe, which was entirely based on the MAELG data. In the Netherlands, Denters and Klok (2013) published a MAELG survey-based analysis of role perceptions of councillors (the importance councillors attribute to their tasks) and their role behaviour (the actual contribution of councillors).…”

“…The aspect of citizen participation in relation to parties dominating local politics is often considered by research focusing on reforms in German local democracy from the 1990s onwards. Distinguishing between local party democracy and local citizen democracy, Vetter (2009) argues that all over the German Länder this change from party domination to growing citizen influence took place. North-Rhine Westphalia is among the states "where change was greatest" (p. 126).…”