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Attitudes towards Politics in a Multilevel Political System The Case of Political Competence Feelings. European. National. Local. Why do I look at Political Attitudes?. science. education. INPUT. OUTPUT. the political system. economy. Feedback. Implementation Control. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Attitudes towards Politics in a
Multilevel Political System
The Case of
Political Competence Feelings
European
Local
National
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Why do I look at Political Attitudes?
the political systemOUTPUTINPUT
Feedback
Interest Articulation
Interest Aggregation
Decision Making Implementation
Control
education
traffic
science
economy
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Why do I look at „Feelings of Political Competence“?
“(T)he existence of a belief in the influence potential of citizens may affect the political system even if it does not affect the political activity of the ordinary man. If decision makers believe that the ordinary man could participate . . . they are likely to behave quite differently than if such a belief did not exist. Even if individuals do not act according to this belief, decision makers may act on the assumption that they can, and in this way be more responsive to the citizenry than they would be if the myth of participation did not exist.”
(Almond/Verba 1965: 139)
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Positive Feelings of Local and National Political Competence, 1959
Question wording: “Suppose a law or regulation were being considered by the local authorities (or parliament of your country) that you considered to be unjust or harmful, what do you think could you do about it?” 00. nothing; 10.-90. various activities alone or with others via formal and other channels.
Data: Civic Culture Study (S0624); the percentages in the table refer to all respondents.
USA
in %
GB
in %
D
in %
I
in %
Locally 76.8 77.7 61.8 39.1
Nationally 74.4 62.1 37.6 24.9
Diff. Loc.-Nat. +2.4 +15.6 +24.2 +14.2
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Why do I look at Attitudes towards Local Politics?
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835
“The strength of free peoples resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science – they put it within the people's reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it. Without local institutions a nation may give itself a free government, but it has not got the spirit of liberty.”
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Why do I look at Attitudes towards Local Politics?
Dahl, Robert A. 1994: A Democratic Dilemma. System Effectiveness versus Citizen Participation, in: Political Science Quarterly 1: 23-34.
„(I)n the future all democratic countries will be challenged to discover ways of maintaining and strengthening the democratic process as they adapt to transnational forces. ... democratic life in smaller communities below the level of the national state could be enhanced. The larger scale of decisions need not lead inevitability to a widening sense of powerlessness, provided citizens can exercise significant control over decisions on the smaller scale of matters important in their daily lives: education, public health, town and city planning, the supply and quality of the local public sector, from streets and lightning to parks and playgrounds, and the like.“
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Attitudes towards Local Politics: A Resource for Democracy?
Feelings of National
Identification
Local Input Orientations
Feelings of Local Identification
Local Output Orientations
National Output
Orientations
National Input Orientations
posi
tive
posi
tive
posi
tive
spill
over
ef
fect
s
spill
over
ef
fect
s
spill
over
ef
fect
s
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
My Research Questions
1. Can feelings of local political competence serve as a resource for competence feelings at higher system levels?
2. Are there institutional factors like local autonomy or the local institutional arrangement that support a high potential of locally socialized attitudes to be transferred to higher levels of government?
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Data
Data: Public Opinion Data: Research Project on Local and National
Political Attitudes in Europe 1999, sponsored by the Thyssen Foundation; European Survey Data collected from Inra Europe on the request of the department for social sciences, University Stuttgart. Micro data covered 12 countries with 1.000 respondents in each country: Finland, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.
Institutional Characteristics (local autonomy and integrative capacity of local politics): Literature review; publications and data from OECD and the Council of Europe
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Operationalization of the Main (dependent) Variable
• “Suppose a law were being considered by <the parliament of your country> that you considered to be unjust or harmful, do you think you could do something about it, or not?
• Suppose a regulation were being considered by the local authorities that you considered to be unjust or harmful, do you think you could do something about it, or not?”
• Answer possibilities: 1. yes, 2. no, 3. don’t know.
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Can feelings of local political competence serve as a resource for competence feelings at higher system levels?Conditions for a positive attitudinal transfer
“Adding … three factors together – local and national competence are related, local competence is more widespread than national, and local competence is related to the institutional availability of opportunities to participate on the local level – one has an argument in favor of the classic position that political participation on the local level plays a major role in the development of a competent citizenry. As many writers have argued, local government may act as a training ground for political competence. Where local government allows participation, it may foster a sense of competence that then spreads to the national level”.
Almond and Verba (1965: 144f).
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Can feelings of local political competence serve as a resource for competence feelings at higher system levels?Conditions for a positive attitudinal transfer
relative importance of attitudestowards local politics
local attitudesless pronounced than
national attitudes
local attitudesmore pronounced than
national attitudes
correlations between local and national attitudes
High
local politics not important for the socialization of
political support for higher system levels
local politics very important for the socialization of
political support for higher system levels
low
local politics important for the socialization of political support for higher system levels
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Feelings of Local Political Competence in Western Europe, 1999 (in % of all respondents)
Question wording: 'Suppose a regulation were being considered by (THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES – municipality, commune, etc.) that you considered to be unjust or harmful. Do you think you could do some thing about it, or not?' Answer possibilities: 1. Yes, 2. No, 3. Don't know / no answer. Data from Inra Europe.
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Feelings of Local and National Political Competence in Western Europe, 1999 (in % of all respondents)
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Levels of local and national political competence in Europe and their relationship (1999, in % of all respondents; Cramer’s V)
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Can feelings of local political competence serve as a resource for competence feelings at higher system levels?
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Are there structural factors that support locally socialized attitudes to be transferred to higher levels of government?
Hypotheses
An integrative local political structure strengthens the level of local political competence.
Local autonomy strengthens the level of local political competence.
The higher the degree of local autonomy, the lower the relationship between local and national attitudes should be.
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Measuring Local Autonomy in Western Europe
Literaturelow
Degree of local autonomyMedium high
Lane/Ersson 1987
F, GR, IRE I, E, PSF, B, NL, B, A, N, DK, S
D CH
Dreier 1994 I, GR, F GB, IRE E, P,SF,N,DK,S
D, A, CH
Hesse/Sharp 1991
“Franco-Group”B, F, I,
E, P, GR
-„Anglo-Group“
GB, IRE-
“Middle/North Europ. Group”D, A, CH, NL, N, S, DK, SF
Page 1991Goldsmith 1997
GB, IRE
“South European
Group”F, B, I, E,
-
“North European Group”
S, N, DK, NL
“Germanic Systems”D, A, CH,
Vetter 2002GR, I, IRE, NL,
GBB, P, A,E, F, D
N, DK, S, SF
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Measuring Local Autonomy (Page/Goldsmith 1987)
Political dimension:
Representation of local interest in national politics
Legal dimension:
- Scope of action (functional scope) and
- Degree of discretion
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
The Two Dimensions of Local Autonomy in Western Europe
The range of locally performed functions: Local expenditure in % of total public spending (index E2)
100 80 60 40 20 0
Loc
al d
iscr
etio
n:
Loc
al t
axes
, fee
s, a
nd
ch
arge
s
in %
of
tota
l loc
al r
even
ue
(in
dex
R2)
100
80
60
40
20
0
GR
P
E
F
I A D B
LUX
IRE
GB NL
DK
SF
S
N
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Measuring Local Integrative Capacity
Majoritarian Local Government
SystemsMixed types
Consensual Local Government
Systems
Composition/
Election of the Local Council
Majoritarian Mixed Proportional
Election of the local executive body
Directly elected or elected by the
council
Directly elected or elected by the
councilBy the council
Composition of the local executive body
Major or clearly dominated
collective bodyunclear
Mainly proportionally
composed collective body
CountriesFrance, United Kingdom, Italy,
Greece
Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain
Finland, Netherlands,
Austria, Portugal, Ireland
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Are there structural factors that support locally socialized attitudes to be transferred to higher levels of government?
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Are there structural factors that support locally socialized attitudes to be transferred to higher levels of government?
Ghent, June 2008 Dr. Angelika Vetter
Inst
itut
für
Soz
ialw
isse
nsch
afrt
en (
SO
WI
I)
Summary
In all countries local competence feelings exceed the respective national feelings.
In all countries correlations between local and national feelings of political competence are positive.
Therefore, local politics can perform as a resource of political support, especially concerning feelings of political competence.
Local integrative capacity has no effects for the generalization of locally socialized competence feelings.
Local autonomy (the scope of locally performed functions) has ambivalent effects with regard to such spillover effects.
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