Nina De Smedt, Tessa Haesevoets, Kristof Steyvers, Bram Wauters
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The last few decades governments have operated in a challenging environment which increasingly calls for extended citizen participation. The aim of the article is to demonstrate that representative and participatory democracy are not two distinct realities, but that politicians’ opinions about their representative roles are associated with their attitudes about participatory democracy. To this end, the present paper links representative styles (partisan-delegate-trustee) with support for (1) the amount of citizen participation and (2) the type of citizen participation. Elected politicians traditionally perceive their representative roles either as ‘partisan’ (party-driven), ‘delegate’ (voter-driven) or ‘trustee’ (driven by their own judgement). We conducted a large-scale survey among Flemish (Belgium) local councillors ( N = 791). We show the biggest differences in support being between ‘delegates’ and ‘partisans’. The first group seems to be more receptive to (far-reaching) citizen participation and we explain that by their general orientation towards citizens.
期刊介绍:
Political parties are intrinsic to every democratic political system, and with the dramatic changes that regularly sweep the political landscape, the study of their function and form is one of the most dynamic areas within contemporary scholarship. Party Politics is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of this integral component within political science. This major international journal provides a forum for the analysis of political parties, including their historical development, structure, policy programmes, ideology, electoral and campaign strategies, and their role within the various national and international political systems of which they are a part.