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Local Government Studies

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Introduction: The Role Perception and Behaviour of Municipal Councillors in the Changing Context of Local Democracy
Hubert Heinelt
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Technical University of Darmstadt , Germany Published online: 03 Apr 2012.

To cite this article: Hubert Heinelt (2013) Introduction: The Role Perception and Behaviour of Municipal Councillors in the Changing Context of Local Democracy, Local Government Studies, 39:5, 633-639, DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2012.670745 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2012.670745

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Local Government Studies, 2013 Vol. 39, No. 5, 633639, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2012.670745

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Introduction: The Role Perception and Behaviour of Municipal Councillors in the Changing Context of Local Democracy
HUBERT HEINELT
Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

Political leadership at the local level has attracted growing attention in recent years in parallel with reforms of local government and of municipal administration, as well as the debate on a shift from government to governance.1 But this debate has been mainly focused on sole leaders, i.e. mayors or executive ocers. Taking into account the power triangle of (i) mayor, (ii) municipal administration (executive ocers) and (iii) council, it is surprising that councillors have so far received little by way of attention. It is amazing that case studies like the one carried out in the 1960s by Eulau and Prewitt (1973) on the 82 city councils in the San Francisco Bay area have not been replicated in recent years. The aim of this special issue is to reect on the role and task perception, as well as the behaviour, of councillors in the changing context of local democracy. The articles collected for this special issue use a common conceptual framework sketched out in Figure 1. We start from the hypothesis that the role perception and behaviour of councillors, as well as their attitudes towards reforms at the local level, cannot be seen as being determined directly by (i) both formal and informal institutional structures and/or by (ii) personal characteristics. Instead, we argue (in line with Fishbein and Ajzen 1975 and Ajzen and Fishbein 1980) that councillors role perceptions and behaviour depend on their notion of democracy as an expression of their basic beliefs about appropriate behaviour and subjective norms.

Correspondence Address: Hubert Heinelt, Technische Universita t Darmstadt, Institut fu r Politikwissenschaft, Residenzschloss (Zi. 260), 64283 Darmstadt, Germany. E-mail: heinelt@pg.tu-darmstadt.de 2013 Taylor & Francis

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Figure 1. Model for explaining role perception, role behaviour and attitudes of councillors.

Relating the role perceptions and behaviour of councillors to their basic beliefs about appropriate behaviour and subjective norms still follows the basic assumption of role theory that a social role is [. . .] dened as a set of expectations oriented towards people who occupy a certain position in a social system or group (Gouldner 1957, p. 282). Those holding the position of councillor may reect in their basic beliefs about appropriate behaviour the expectations oriented towards those occupying this position. However, expectations oriented towards the position of a councillor vary according to the dierent concepts of democracy discussed below. Furthermore, by emphasising basic beliefs about appropriate behaviour and subjective norms, patterns of latent identities among councillors are addressed (like the more general latent identities of cosmopolitans and locals, identied by Gouldner 1957 and 1958) which are determined by a particular understanding of democracy. In other words, we see notions of democracy as causal mechanisms between formal and informal institutional structures and the role perception and behaviour of councillors.2 However, it is an open question whether (and how far) the understanding of democracy is aected by institutional structures which oer councillors particular options to perform a specic role, thereby making it attractive for certain actors to become councillors in order to perform this specic role. Such institutional structures, and particularly horizontal power relations between the mayor, the municipal administration and the council, are determined by local government systems which dier between countries (and sometimes within countries). In this respect the question is raised of whether or not dierences in the notion of democracy can be detected between countries with dierent local government systems. Furthermore, it is necessary to test whether the understanding of democracy depends on the personal characteristics of councillors and not on institutional settings as

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the particular options oered to councillors by the formal competences of a council may not aect (or lter out) the recruitment of actors with a specic understanding of democracy. Nevertheless, in some of the articles presented here the hypothesis will be tested empirically as to whether or not the role perception and behaviour of councillors depends directly on institutional structures as well as on personal characteristics. All the contributions to this issue are based on the results of a survey of municipal councillors (the so-called MAELG [Municipal Assemblies in European Local Governance] survey) carried out in 2007 and 2008 in fteen European countries and Israel.3 The data set collected by this survey includes responses from about 12,000 councillors from approximately 1,400 municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants selected by stratied sampling. Municipal councils are mainly seen as representative bodies, i.e. a core institution with a particular understanding of democracy namely representative or liberal democracy. In the rst article (Councillors Notion of Democracy and their Role Perception and Behaviour in the Changing Context of Local Democracy) Hubert Heinelt shows that not all councillors have an understanding of democracy that accords with this model. Instead, it will be shown that there are also councillors with an understanding of democracy which is oriented towards a much broader participation of citizens than simply participating in council elections. This second understanding is in line with the deliberative model of democracy (see for an overview Cohen 2007). Furthermore, the article looks at role and task perception as well as the behaviour of councillors. It can be shown that councillors understanding of democracy is related to particular task perception and role behaviour, as well as to their attitudes towards local government reforms. These ndings conrm that the basic beliefs and subjective norms of a person expressed in a particular understanding of democracy inuence perceptions, attitudes and behaviour. Therefore, the initial article sets reference points for the following articles. Furthermore, it shows that institutional settings determined by dierent local government systems do not aect councillors understanding of democracy. Rather, their notion of democracy is more clearly related to personal characteristics namely sex, age and political orientation. The second article (Citizen Democracy and the Responsiveness of Councillors: The eects of democratic institutionalization on the role orientations and role behaviour of councillors) by Bas Denters and Pieter Jan Klok addresses the impact of variations in democratic institutions on the responsiveness of local councillors in relation to their constituents. In recent years many European countries have implemented institutional reforms that have radically changed the nature of local democracy. Vetter (2009) has described these changes as a shift from party democracy to citizen democracy. The notion of citizen democracy implies a number of institutional characteristics: directly elected mayors, binding referendums,

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mechanisms to increase citizen inuence over the choice of individual candidates, a strong position for independent parties and small local parties. Bas Denters and Pieter Jan Klok study the impact of dierences in the institutional structures of local democracy on the role orientations and behaviours of councillors. Their main conclusion is that dierences in the institutionalisation of local democracy have only a weak, indirect impact on the role orientation and role behaviour of councillors. Therefore the recent democratic reforms are unlikely to have led to a transformation of local systems of political representation. In his contribution (The Hidden Constitutions: How informal institutions aect notions of democracy among councillors), David Karlsson reects on informal institutions formed and reproduced by local traditions, individuals and ad hoc circumstances. It is argued that politicians do form their notions of democracy and interpret their roles as elected representatives in relation to the institutions which regulate their practice. However, major parts of constitutional frameworks have not been written down or formalised. Instead informal institutions regulate political practice. This article identies a number of indicators of such informal institutions based on the frequency of contacts councillors have with particular actors and the councillors perceptions of the inuence of these actors on local politics. The results indicate that informal institutions aect the representation style of the councillor at least as much as formal institutions. For example, municipalities with an elitist power structure tend to strengthen party loyalty among councillors. In their article (New Public Management Reforms and Democratic Legitimacy: Notions of Democratic Legitimacy among West European Local Councillors), Jacob Aars and Signy Irene Vabo extend the question about the notions of democracy to the concept of democratic legitimacy. They distinguish between input-based legitimacy, resembling democratic theory, and output-based legitimacy, referring to the public performance and end results as experienced by people. Their rst question is descriptive and concerns the support for alternative notions of democratic legitimacy amongst councillors. Which notion of legitimacy receives the stronger support: input-based legitimacy, associated with representative democracy and participation; or output-based legitimacy, emphasising the performance of democratic institutions as promoted by New Public Management reforms? The second and more important question, however, seeks explanations and raises the issue of whether the view held by the councillors depends on the multi-level government system in a specic country. The hypothesis is that the more responsibility for the production of welfare services is held by local government, the more support output-oriented legitimacy measures are likely to receive. In addition, they investigate whether municipal size as well as the personal characteristics of councillors have an impact on councillors notions of legitimacy. They nd that the measures of input-based legitimacy receive more support than the measures

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of output-based legitimacy. In relation to the impact of local government systems and responsibilities held by local governments, however, the ndings are less straightforward. The main hypothesis gains some support, but the results are not signicant. In the nal article (Urban Governance and its Impact on the Role Perception and Behaviour of European City Councillors), Larissa Plu ss explores the impact of dierent models of urban governance on councillors role perception and behaviour. The article is based on the main hypothesis that new forms of governance generally weaken the political inuence of councillors in local decision-making processes due to the inclusion of private actors and a new allocation of functions and political roles. Furthermore, it is assumed that councillors consequently adopt new network strategies to enhance or restore their inuence in local politics. However, the results of the multilevel analyses undertaken are only partly in line with the postulated hypotheses. The empirical evidence shows that dierent kinds of governance arrangements have unequal eects on the political relevance of municipal councillors, and that new forms of governance often strengthen their inuence as elected representatives. It seems that the institutional organisation of urban governance matters a great deal. With respect to networking activities, the postulated hypothesis is corroborated. These activities by municipal councillors depend on the specic urban governance arrangement in which they have to act. In corporatist governance arrangements for example, councillors expand their networks with those actors who are the key players in such arrangements namely the local executive and societal actors. And in governance arrangements characterised by Larissa Plu ss as welfare governance, councillors extend their networking activities with public and private actors, but these activities are most pronounced with the local executive and public administration. Therefore, councillors pursue specic network strategies according to the prevailing governance context, by expanding their ties with the respective key players to enhance or restore their inuence in local politics. Having worked through the articles published in this special issue, it can be argued that we now know more about the role and task perception, as well as the behaviour, of councillors in the changing context of local democracy. However, to know more about their inuence on policy making in the power triangle of mayor, municipal administration and council, as well as their relevance in achieving particular policy objectives in the context of local governments equipped with varying competences in dierent countries, more detailed case studies are necessary (like the one carried out in the 1960s by Eulau and Prewitt [1973] in the San Francisco Bay area). This would involve, particularly, systematic comparative studies, including the analysis of dierent policies in cities across countries such as those on mayors or other individual political leaders (see for example Haus et al. 2005 or Heinelt et al. 2006).

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1. See e.g. John 2001; Kersting and Vetter 2003; Haus et al. 2005; Reynaert et al. 2005; Denters and Rose 2005, Haus and Sweeting 2006 as well as the special issue of the International Journal of Urban and regional Research (Vol. 28, No. 1) edited by Borraz and John (2004). 2. This does not mean that (negative) experiences of councillors with a particular role behaviour can have retroactive eects on their understanding of democracy. 3. The following countries (and partners) have been included in this survey: Austria (Werner Pleschberger), Belgium (Kristof Steyvers and Tom Verhelst), Croatia (Dubravka Jurlina and Pavel Saradin), England (David Sweeting and Alibegovic), Czech Republic (Dan Rysavy Colin Copus), France (Eric Kerrouche), Germany (Hubert Heinelt, Bjorn Egner and Max-Christopher Krapp), Greece (Panos Getimis, Nikos Hlepas and Alexia Timotheou), Israel (Eran Razin), Italy (Annick Magnier), Netherlands (Merel de Groot, Pieter-Jan Klok and Bas Denters), Norway (Jacob Aars, Audun Oerdal and Signy Irene Vabo), Poland (Pawel Swianiewicz), Spain (Carlos Alba and Carmen Navarro), Sweden (Vicki Johansson and David Karlsson) and Switzerland (Daniel Kubler and Larissa Pluss). A similar survey of mayors has been carried out by some of the same partners (see Ba ck et al. 2006). For the results of a survey of municipal chief executive ocers see Mouritzen and Svara 2002 as well as Klausen and Magnier 1998.

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