Abstract
This chapter explores the attitudes of councillors towards citizen participation in local government. It examines specific mechanisms of engagement for citizens within a system of local democracy that contains representative and participatory elements. As elected representatives, councillors are part of the fabric of representation, and therefore may well be naturally inclined to view with suspicion any moves which take local politics much beyond the formal processes of voting, elections, and decision-making in municipal chambers. It is worth noting, however, that, in Heinelt (this volume) many councillors did show favourable attitudes towards participation in local democracy.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Boaden, N., Hampton, N., Goldsmith, M., and Stringer, P. (1982) Public participation in local services. Longman: London.
Cohen, J. and Sabel, C. (1997) ‘Directly-Deliberative Polyarchy’, European Law Journal 3 (4), 313-342.
Copus, C. (2003) ‘Re-Engaging Citizens and Councils: The Importance of the Councillor to Enhanced Citizen Involvement’, Local Government Studies 29 (2), 32-51.
Copus, C. (2004) Party politics and local government. Manchester University Press: Manchester.
Denters, B. (2005) ‘Squnadering away Thorbecke’s legacy? Some recent considerations on Dutch local government reforms’, in Reynaert, H., Steyvers, K., Delwit, P., and Pilet, J.-B. (eds.) Revolution or Renovation? Reforming local politics in Europe, Vanden Broele: Brugge, 421-444.
Goodin, R. E. (2008) Innovating Democracy: Democratic Theory and Practice After the Deliberative Turn. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Haus, M. and Sweeting, D. (2006) ‘Local democracy and political leadership: Drawing a map’, Political Studies 54 (2), 267-288.
Judge, D. (1999) Representation. Theory and Practice in Britain. Routledge: London.
Klausen, J. E., Sweeting, D. and Howard, J. (2005) ‘Community involvement and legitimation in urban governance: an empirical analysis’ in Heinelt, H., Sweeting, D. And Getimis, P. (eds.) Legitimacy and Urban Governance: A cross-national comparative study. Routledge: Basingstoke, 191-208.
Lepine, E. and Sullivan, H. (2010) ‘Realising the public person’, Local Government Studies 36 (1), 91-107.
Lowndes, V., Pratchett, L. and Stoker, G. (2001) ‘Trends In Public Participation: Part 1 – Local Government Perspectives’, Public Administration 79 (1), 205-222.
Pateman, C. (1970) Participation and democratic theory. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Smith, G. (2005) Beyond the Ballot: 57 democratic innovations from around the world. The Power Inquiry: London.
Sullivan, H., Knops, A., Barnes, M., and Newman, J. (2004) ‘Central-Local Relations in an Era of Multi-Level Governance: The Case of Public Participation Policy in England, 1997-2001’, Local Government Studies 30 (2), 245-265.
Sweeting, D. and Copus, C. (2011) ‘Whatever happened to local democracy?’, Policy & Politics 40 (1), 20-37.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sweeting, D., Copus, C. (2013). Councillors, participation, and local democracy. In: Egner, B., Sweeting, D., Klok, PJ. (eds) Local Councillors in Europe. Urban and Regional Research International, vol 14. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-01857-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-01857-3_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden
Print ISBN: 978-3-658-01856-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-658-01857-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)