Direct election of mayors is a popular issue in 'political renewal' in many European countries. The authors argue that the desire to implement this type of policy is usually inspired by a mix of ...motives: one motive is to establish strong and direct linkage, legitimacy and responsiveness between citizens and mayor while giving a face to fragmented policy processes. Another motive is to concentrate executive leadership in the hands of mayors to ensure that 'new mayors' function both as figureheads and focal points in local decision-making. In their analysis of policy debates in Belgium in both the Flanders and the Walloon region, they show that these debates not only develop differently in different regions, they are only remotely connected to empirical findings as well. The selection of mayors in Belgium has over the years developed from an authoritarian into a democratic mode; the functional component has taken a similar course. The result is that mayors in Belgium are now in most cases 'vote champions' already, while their most important role is to be leaders in local politics. Policy debates do not only largely ignore these changes in the selection and in the mandates of mayors, they also ignore possible negative effects of direct elections on the chances of women and ethnic minorities in local politics.
Zagovara se potreba strožeg i sustavnijeg pristupa komparativnim istraživanjima lokalne politike, tj. istraživanjima koja se bave akterima, instrumentima, institucijama i procesima u lokalnom sustavu ...upravljanja. Navode se prednosti takvog pristupa (prisutne kad se metodologija istraživanja bavi deskriptivnim, eksplanativnim i pragmatičkim pitanjima) kao i njegovi nedostaci (mnogobrojne teorije srednjeg dometa i kompromisi nužno prisutni u metodologiji komparativnih istraživanja).Rad nudi pregled komparativnih istraživanja lokalne politike te specificira tri razvojne faze. Prve dvije faze se bave izazovom klasifikacije (gdje postoje deskriptivnija i eksplanativnija varijanta, a obje imaju temelje u starom institucionalizmu), dok se treća faza bavi teorijskim razvojem (i opis i objašnjenje imaju temelj u novom institucionalizmu). Za svaku se fazu navodi jedan ili više reprezentativnih slučajeva kako bi se predočila složenost i dostignuća svake faze. Što se tiče klasifikacije, u radu se nastoji prikazati kako klasični kategorijski pristup usmjeren na zapadne zemlje polako postaje raznovrsniji i uključuje slučajeve iz ostalih dijelova Europe. Istodobno postupno jača prisutnost unutarupravne perspektive, ponekad u kombinaciji s njenim ranijim ekvivalentom u integriranijim oblicima lokalne demokracije. Što se tiče teorijskog razvoja, dolazi do prijelaza s koncepta vladanja (governing) i njegovih varijanti na governance koncept te se suvremene analize sve se više bave posljedicama empirijski dokazanog udaljavanja od koncepta vladanja. Rad također nudi nekoliko prijedloga za poboljšanje istraživanja, posebno u pogledu tumačenja (primjerice višerazinsko s fokusom na lokalno upravljanje), teorija (predlaže se razvoj i provjera empirijskih implikacija ili prijedloga koji će biti održivi na više razina i unutar razina), oblikovanja (predlaže se iskoristiti dodanu vrijednost brojnosti i blizine predmeta istraživanja) i mjerenja (bavljenje pitanjima ekvivalencije).
U radu se istražuje nacionalizacija lokalne politike u belgijskom kontekstu. Problematici se pristupa detaljnije od tradicionalne podjele stranaka na nacionalne i nenacionalne, te se izvode tri ...glavna zaključka. Prvo na temelju analize vertikalne autonomije stranaka možemo zaključiti da postoje četiri podtipa liste: državne, pseudodržavne, pseudolokalne i nezavisne lokalne liste. Podjela sudionika posljednjih dvaju krugova belgijskih lokalnih izbora na navedena četiri podtipa pokazuje da prevladavaju, što se belgijskih općina tiče, liste koje su makar neizravno povezane s državnom strankom (čak i kada nemaju državni predznak). Nadalje, ova se tipologija koristi kako bi se procijenila nacionalizacija lokacijski ograničenog skupa stranaka. Razvijeni su indeksi nacionalizacije lokalne politike koji pokazuju omjer između navedenih podtipova u izbornoj i u parlamentarnoj areni. Rezultati upućuju na to da je riječ o relativnoj, a ne o potpunoj nacionalizaciji lokalnog političkog sustava. Nacionalizacija je izraženija u slučaju lokalnih vijeća nego lokalnih izbora. Konačno, u radu se nastoji objasniti varijacija u nacionalizaciji lokalnog političkog sustava razmatranjem zajedničkog učinka varijabli lokacijski ograničene društvene morfologije i političke ekologije. Binarna logistička regresija pokazuje da je politička ekologija (češće) važnija od društvene morfologije (predvidljivija je u slučaju parlamentarnog indeksa nego u slučaju izbornoga). Javljaju se i drugi učinci. Morfološki faktori ne utječu znatno na vjerojatnost da će doći do nacionalizacije izbornoga lokalnog političkog sustava, no pojedini morfološki faktori ipak utječu na nacionalizaciju parlamentarnoga lokalnog političkog sustava. Nadalje, isti ekološki faktori utječu na nacionalizaciju kako izbornog tako i parlamentarnog lokalnog političkog sustava. Tu je izražena važnost dotadašnjeg razvojnog puta i prethodnih odabira (path dependance) koji utječu na nacionalizaciju lokalne politike. Ipak, varijacija u velikoj mjeri ostaje naobjašnjena, što je povezano s ograničenjima kvantitativnog pristupa usmjerenoga na učinak vanjskih utjecaja na nacionalizaciju lokalne politike. Kako bi se postiglo cjelovito razumijevanje, valja proučiti interakciju s unutarnjim stranačkim odlukama. Buduća se istraživanja također trebaju usmjeriti na komparativnu primjenu rezultata - u kojoj je mjeri i u kojim uvjetima moguća.
This paper studies the role of partisanship in the road to the Belgian mayoralty. It confirms the expectation that most mayors have quite extensive party records prior to coming to office. Although ...different degrees of partisanship are thus relative, they tend to sort both internal and external effects. Mayors with a highly partisan background give a more active interpretation of their initial recruitment and get a head start in their political career. They also more frequently come from families that are deeply engaged in politics. In addition, they combine their own partisan experience with additional recruitment apprenticeships. Having
held a function in a party and having experienced extensive party support make mayoral orientations more partisan in terms of task importance and exchange of views with party leaders.
KEYWORDS: • local government • mayor • mayoral recruitment • local party system • Belgium
Using conceptual dimensions identified by the literature on political leadership, this article compares its transformations at the local level in Europe. Often associated with the alleged shift to ...governance, the strengthening of the executive comes forward as the underlying tendency in contemporary local leadership. Empowered individualised leadership emerges, in terms of coming to and taking office, challenging traditional notions of tasks, style and conditions of local leadership. Such a tendency does not imply the apparent Americanisation of political leadership however, as the articles in this collection show, rather a path dependent European route has emerged.
Existing approaches to the study of local elections and voting often result in a characterization of these as of a lower rank, and the literature has long been dominated by empirical single-country ...studies that are often limited to a sole electoral term. We argue that local elections and voting as political phenomena should be situated within the broader context of multilevel democracy and that a more comparative approach should be applied. A theoretical framework including vertical integration and horizontal variation is introduced. Also, five sections are included in which local elections are described: a brief overview of the local government system, local elections and their place in the multilevel system, features of the local electoral system, local electoral outcomes, and conclusion and discussion. Finally, the empirical study of local elections in 40 European countries is introduced.
Local elections and voting across 40 countries are compared under the headings of local electoral systems, local electoral participation, local party politicization, and local political ...representation. The different takes on the localness of local elections are combined in an explorative typology, including combinations of vertical dissimilarity (how different elections are at the national and local levels) and horizontal variations (how different local elections are across municipalities within the same country). Avenues for further research are pointed out - not least future research in which the large number of electoral cases existing at the local level can be exploited.
This article tries to analyse the impact of some important changes in recent decades on the context in which Belgian governors function. On the one hand we can observe an internal shift in ...legislation, strengthening the democratic control and executive power of the elected politicians, while on the other hand there is the alleged external shift towards network policy and multi-level governance. At first sight the internal change seems to indicate a loss of (formal) power, illustrated by the fact that the governors lost their voting rights in 1997 and even lost the position of chairman in the Walloon provinces in 2004. But when we take a closer view, the institutional changes seem to have induced a shift in the selection process, as the political profile of the (recently) nominated governors is more pronounced. Moreover, our research indicates an important leadership role for governors brought about through the complex interactions of formal and informal structures at the intermediate government level. Governors play their leadership role by focusing on partnerships as a means to achieve the goals of a particular public policy.
In many countries local government is perceived to be shifting towards local governance. This article tries to link three dimensions of governance using data from the Belgian context. While New ...Public Management tries to improve the efficiency of government, more direct and issue-specific forms of citizen involvement aim at democratic renewal. Strengthening the executive puts leaders in a pivotal position in dealing with the former both in evaluative and deliberative terms. Our evidence for Belgian mayors shows a somewhat conservative attitude towards the studied dimensions of governance. Redefining their role in a strategic direction might provoke a perceived loss of power in an environment only hesitantly adapting to governance. The balance between NPM and democratic renewal is less clear-cut in mayoral belief systems. Different factors seem to explain attitudes on both dimensions.
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