How the Butler Did It: Investigating Individual City Influence on National Policy

In most political systems, cities are not formally part of national policymaking. However, since they are often responsible for the implementation of national policies, they are likely to seek influence on these policies. Existing literature deals mostly with institutionalized policy cooperation and collective municipal organizations. As such, we know very little about how individual cities try to pursue their interests in national policymaking, let alone the conditions for their success. Documenting early policy influence is difficult as processes are tightly closed. Based on unique access to deep archival material (30,000+ pages) combined with 17 elite interviews, this study shows how Danish cities influenced upcoming regulation of vulnerable social housing areas. Using process-tracing logic, the study systematically shows how multiple attempts were made by cities to alter new policy targeting “ghettoes.” Not all attempts were successful, but in crucial cornerstones, city influence on policy formulation can be documented. The study contributes to our understanding of intergovernmental relations on national regulation and shows that the exchange of city resources—especially technical knowledge and implementation capacity—is a key condition for successful influence on national policymaking.