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How local is decentral politics? : Variations in the supply of municipal policies

Florczak, Christoffer ; Schrøder, Thor ; Kjær, Ulrik and Klemmensen, Robert LU (2025) In West European Politics
Abstract
Local democracy is theoretically based on political parties offering different policies across and within sub-national geographical units. However, local democracy is embedded within a multilevel party and institutional structure that may compromise this endeavour. This study develops three expectations of policy variation: within party variation in political positions across geographical units; differences in policy positions across parties within geographical units; and that parties adjust their supply of policy over time possibly based on structural, social, or party features. It is argued that the presence of these variations is important for local democracy considering multilevel party institutions and their existence is tested using... (More)
Local democracy is theoretically based on political parties offering different policies across and within sub-national geographical units. However, local democracy is embedded within a multilevel party and institutional structure that may compromise this endeavour. This study develops three expectations of policy variation: within party variation in political positions across geographical units; differences in policy positions across parties within geographical units; and that parties adjust their supply of policy over time possibly based on structural, social, or party features. It is argued that the presence of these variations is important for local democracy considering multilevel party institutions and their existence is tested using 1,002 Danish municipal party election manifestos from the local elections in 2013 and 2017, covering all 98 Danish municipalities. The first two types of variation are clearly present, the third is only present between parties, and this suggests that local politics is at least somewhat local. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
West European Politics
pages
29 pages
publisher
Routledge
ISSN
0140-2382
DOI
10.1080/01402382.2025.2528474
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
736dd4e3-3619-4221-a2a9-58f008421c00
date added to LUP
2025-09-04 12:51:14
date last changed
2025-09-05 07:52:43
@article{736dd4e3-3619-4221-a2a9-58f008421c00,
  abstract     = {{Local democracy is theoretically based on political parties offering different policies across and within sub-national geographical units. However, local democracy is embedded within a multilevel party and institutional structure that may compromise this endeavour. This study develops three expectations of policy variation: within party variation in political positions across geographical units; differences in policy positions across parties within geographical units; and that parties adjust their supply of policy over time possibly based on structural, social, or party features. It is argued that the presence of these variations is important for local democracy considering multilevel party institutions and their existence is tested using 1,002 Danish municipal party election manifestos from the local elections in 2013 and 2017, covering all 98 Danish municipalities. The first two types of variation are clearly present, the third is only present between parties, and this suggests that local politics is at least somewhat local.}},
  author       = {{Florczak, Christoffer and Schrøder, Thor and Kjær, Ulrik and Klemmensen, Robert}},
  issn         = {{0140-2382}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{West European Politics}},
  title        = {{How local is decentral politics? : Variations in the supply of municipal policies}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2025.2528474}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/01402382.2025.2528474}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}