Local Campaigns and Elections

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy B. Krebs
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Campaigns And Elections ◽  
Local Campaigns

Despite a substantial increase in the number and quality of studies on local elections and campaigns, the field remains in its infancy. Research on minority and female officials at the local level has given way to a more concerted effort to understand the nature of voter turnout and vote choice in city elections. In this article the author argues that cities and other local governments are inviting places to study given the variety of local political contexts, institutional arrangements, and the presence of multi-racial and multi-gender candidate pools. We know that institutional arrangements, namely At-large systems of representation, hinder the ability of minority groups to achieve success in winning local office, and that coalition building among racial and ethnic groups is often needed to win. We also have some sense that cities’ institutional arrangements influence voter turnout, but there is debate about which features are most important. The author explores these research gaps among other directions for future research.

Local Elections and the Politics of Small-Scale Democracy

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Eric Oliver ◽  
Shang E. Ha ◽  
Zachary Callen
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Community Ties

Local government is the hidden leviathan of American politics: it accounts for nearly a tenth of gross domestic product, it collects nearly as much in taxes as the federal government, and its decisions have an enormous impact on Americans' daily lives. Yet political scientists have few explanations for how people vote in local elections, particularly in the smaller cities, towns, and suburbs where most Americans live. Drawing on a wide variety of data sources and case studies, this book offers the first comprehensive analysis of electoral politics in America's municipalities. Arguing that current explanations of voting behavior are ill suited for most local contests, the book puts forward a new theory that highlights the crucial differences between local, state, and national democracies. Being small in size, limited in power, and largely unbiased in distributing their resources, local governments are “managerial democracies” with a distinct style of electoral politics. Instead of hinging on the partisanship, ideology, and group appeals that define national and state elections, local elections are based on the custodial performance of civic-oriented leaders and on their personal connections to voters with similarly deep community ties. Explaining not only the dynamics of local elections, Oliver's findings also upend many long-held assumptions about community power and local governance, including the importance of voter turnout and the possibilities for grassroots political change.

Ein zunehmend bunter Freistaat: Die Analyse der bayerischen Kommunalwahlen im März 2020 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der kreisfreien Städte

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-94
Author(s):  
Jan Pollex ◽  
Sebastian Block ◽  
Martin Gross ◽  
Dominic Nyhuis ◽  
Jan A. Velimsky
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Green Party ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
The Social ◽  
Election Results

Despite their crucial role for democratic decision-making, local elections receive little atten­tion from political science research . To overcome this shortcoming, the article analyses the Bavarian local elections of 2020 . Although the CSU remains the strongest party in the Free State, the Green Party was able to make considerable gains, especially in larger cities . How­ever, the Greens could not gain any grounds in mayoral elections, whereas CSU and SPD competed for the win . In most of the cases, the Social Democrats won the posts in city halls . In addition to detailing election results, this article addresses the ballot lists, the com­position of local councils, and coalition building at the local level . Overall, this contribu­tion provides a comprehensive account of the elections, which are characterized by their unique ballot system and, thus, have a special role in the political system of Germany .

Indigenous Social Movements and Institutional Reform: Mechanisms of Interest Representation in Three Colombian Municipalities

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Marcela Velasco
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Competitive Strategies ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
Indigenous Social Movements ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
Competitive Mechanisms ◽  
Key Aspects

In the 1990s, Colombia passed but unevenly enforced multicultural reforms to address indigenous rights. Parallel to this, decentralization laws delegated key aspects of interest intermediation to local governments. These reforms changed the political opportunity structure that framed the relationship between indigenous people and the state. Indigenous activists engaged nonindigenous authorities and institutions at the local level in contentious, cooperative, or competitive strategies of interest intermediation to redistribute assets, claim indigenous rights, and create coalitions committed to ethnic governance. These strategies involved various mechanisms including framing indigenous claims, mobilizing communities, and repurposing or revising existing institutions to help keep indigenous territories and communities together. The reforms opened new opportunities, and activists responded by sustaining contentious strategies of interest intermediation such as social protests and testing cooperative and competitive mechanisms to coordinate different jurisdictions, participate in local elections, build up broader constituencies, and increase coalitions to support indigenous rights. En la década de 1990, Colombia aprobó reformas multiculturales para abordar los derechos indígenas, pero procedió a ejercerlas de manera desigual. Paralelamente, las leyes de descentralización delegaron aspectos clave de la intermediación de intereses a los gobiernos locales. Estas reformas cambiaron la estructura de oportunidades políticas que enmarcaba la relación entre los pueblos indígenas y el Estado. Los activistas indígenas involucraron a autoridades e instituciones locales no indígenas en estrategias de intermediación de intereses contenciosas, cooperativas o competitivas para redistribuir activos, reclamar derechos indígenas y crear coaliciones comprometidas con la gobernanza étnica. Estas estrategias implicaron diversos mecanismos, entre ellos la formulación de reclamos indígenas, la movilización de las comunidades y la reutilización o revisión de las instituciones existentes para ayudar a mantener unidos los territorios y las comunidades indígenas. Las reformas dieron lugar a nuevas oportunidades, y los activistas respondieron sustentando estrategias contestatarias de intermediación de intereses, como protestas sociales, y probando mecanismos cooperativos y competitivos para coordinar distintas jurisdicciones, participar en elecciones locales, construir grupos más amplios y aumentar las coaliciones en apoyo a los derechos indígenas.

scholarly journals The specifics of the corporate model of local self-government and the divergence of modern approaches to self-government at the local level in the Commonwealth countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-97
Author(s):  
A. Larichev
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Corporations ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Corporate Character ◽  
Corporate Model

The subject of the article is models of local self-government in Commonwealth countries.The purpose of this article is to substantiate or refute the hypothesis post-corporate model of local self-government is evolved.Methods of theoretical analysis are used, as well as legal methods, including the formal legal method and the method of comparative law.The main results and scope of their application. The corporate model of local government can be characterized by the following features: the lack of full constitutional recognition of local government as an independent form of public authority; formal institutional autonomy of municipal units as public (private-public) corporations of a special type that are not included into the system of state power; limited functional autonomy; lack of constitutional recognition of citizens’ or local communities’ right(s) to local self-government; limited accountability of local governments to the population, including the lack of sufficient legislative guarantees for the election of local authorities. These characteristics, grounded also in the historical specificity of local government development in Great Britain and its colonies, as well as in peculiarities of development of municipal units’ status in English law, are determined by the corporate character of municipal government, which does not arise from the power of communities, but is formed by the state "from above". The author also analyzes the differences in approaches to regulation and organization of local government in the Commonwealth countries.Overcoming the historical heritage, laid by the genesis of municipal corporations, in a number of Commonwealth states, indicates the formation of a new, post-corporate model of local government, which can be characterized by some features: the establishment of constitutional autonomy of local government as a special form of public power, its development as a form of democracy with greater control over the forms of self-government and governance at the local level by the population, as well as the establishment of a link between self-government and the local community. The proposed analysis may become a crucial point for future research in the field of post-corporate model of local self-government.Conclusions. Such countries as Australia and Ireland can presently be considered in a state of transition to the post-corporate model of local self-government.

scholarly journals Why Political Parties don’t and do Matter in Local Government Elections in Indonesia: A Manado Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (77) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanus Sampe
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Computer Application ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Structured Interviews

ABSTRACT Introduction: Despite decentralization devolving increasing decision-making powers to subnational governments across Asia, the subject of local-level elections has not received anywhere near the academic attention afforded to national elections. This article aims to make a contribution to filling this gap in the literature on the dynamics of local election by examining the political parties’ activities in the 2010 local executive election in Indonesia through the detailed case study of Manado City. Materials and Methods: This article used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies for a case study of the Manado local government election in 2010. These methods include direct observation which had been done during the election in 2010, review of relevant media articles and books, collection of statistics from relevant government organizations and interviews. The latter comprised the most important and novel aspect of the research. The interviews were of two types: First, there was a quantitative survey of 100 selected voter respondents using questionnaire with 22 closed-ended questions. Second, there were semi-structured interviews with the local leaders of political parties, the heads of campaign teams, the candidates, the members of the local electoral organization, the representatives of NGOs, mass media personnel and the survey organisations who monitored the election. The quantitative data was explored with the aid of a computer application program (SPSS) while the qualitative data was analysed through a thematic approach. Although the qualitative data collection and analysis was dominant, the quantitative methodology was still important in this article. Results: This article found a paradoxical situation in that political parties did not and did matter. They did not matter case was supported by evidence showing that voters chose candidates based on their personalities, behaviours and programs rather than on party loyalty. On the contrary, they did matter case derived from the superior organisational abilities of parties in running successful election campaigns and in aligning themselves with the candidates most likely to win. Discussion: This article had made a valuable addition to explaining the activities of political parties at local level in the context of decentralization. The implication of this research is that although voters did not choose political parties, the latter were nonetheless highly significant in determining the outcome of the local government election in Manado City. So, it is useful for future research to consider more closely the role of parties in local elections.

scholarly journals Postal Voting and Voter Turnout in Local Elections: Lessons from New Zealand and Australia

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacky Yaakov Zvulun
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Local Level ◽  
First Century ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between postal voting and voter turnout in local elections needs to be investigated in the context of whether postal voting helps increase voter turnout in twenty-first century local elections. This assists to uplift the discourse about New Zealand and Australia local elections and its voter turnout. This article explores the method of postal voting history by looking at these two countries and analysing the method of political participation at the local level. It argues that postal voting no longer increases or decreases voter turnout in these countries. KEYWORDS: • postal voting • voter turnout • local elections • participation • New Zealand

Subnational Government Capital Financing

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-180
Author(s):  
Christine R. Martell ◽  
Tima T. Moldogaziev ◽  
Salvador Espinosa
Keyword(s):  
Capital Markets ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Credit Quality ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
Capital Financing ◽  
Subnational Governments

This book argues that capital markets can be an important source of financing for subnational governments across the globe as they face decentralization of governance systems and increased demand for infrastructure at the local level. The central argument is that information resolution at both the national-level and the city-level is critical for the success of subnational capital markets. Furthermore, the chapter argues that subnational governments can and must become competent actors with regards to both top-down (national to local governments) and outside-in (financial sector firms to local governments) transactions and pressures. This chapter presents city policymakers with options for capital market access when both system credit contractibility and underlying credit quality vary by offering a typology of alternatives for capital financing. The chapter recommends policies that establish contractibility and credit quality assessment mechanisms and concludes with recommendations for future research.

An Analysis of Winning Campaigns in Urban Municipalities in 2006 Local Elections

10.4335/57 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-372
Author(s):  
Simona Kustec Lipicer ◽  
Samo Kropivnik ◽  
Alem Maksuti
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Electoral Campaigns ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Scientific Research Work ◽  
Electoral Campaign ◽  
Local Campaigns ◽  
System Time

The study of electoral campaigns is nowadays one of the very topical and popular themes in the field of the scientific-research work. Electoral campaigns can be defined in several ways and from several points of view. In this paper, a campaign is understood as a set of diverse activities performed to influence the electoral result. These activities can be studied according to the political-system, time-space, organisational and instrumental dimensions of their performance. The key purpose of the paper is to analyse and typologise the features of electoral campaigns of today's urban municipality mayors in Slovenia during their standing as candidates in local elections in 2006. By using various methodological and statistical approaches and tools, it was found out in the analysed cases that electoral campaigns were an important part of the electoral process and that, according to planning features and implementing plans, they were very specific in all the studied municipalities. Because of this, the campaigns in the studied elections were characterised as particular and highly localised. Despite these particularities, four different types of campaigns were highlighted according to the groups of similar features: a) traditional campaigns; b) charismatic candidate campaigns; c) modern local campaigns and d) an intense campaign mosaic. Regardless of the particularities of the campaign activities and processes, it turned out that they played an important role at the local level of political activity. Key words: • electoral campaign • local elections • urban municipality • mayor • type • Slovenia

Spatial and Institutional Analysis of the Voivodships Expenditure on Culture in the Years 2003 – 2015

e-Finanse ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Adam Mateusz Suchecki
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Location Quotient ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
National Heritage

AbstractFollowing the completion of the process of decentralisation of public administration in Poland in 2003, a number of tasks implemented previously by the state authorities were transferred to the local level. One of the most significant changes to the financing and management methods of the local authorities was the transfer of tasks related to culture and national heritage to the set of tasks implemented by local governments. As a result of the decentralisation process, the local government units in Poland were given significant autonomy in determining the purposes of their budgetary expenditures on culture. At the same time, they were obliged to cover these expenses from their own revenues.This paper focuses on the analysis of expenditures on culture covered by the voivodship budgets, taking into consideration the structure of cultural institutions by their types, between 2003-2015. The location quotient (LQ) was applied to two selected years (2006 and 2015) to illustrate the diversity of expenditures on culture in individual voivodships.

Incentives for the development of industrial parks (on the example of the border regions of Poland)

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
Yaroslava Kalat
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Cost Minimization ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Industrial Park ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Industrial Parks ◽  
Spatial Policy

In the search for efficient decisions directed at the stimulation of regional development and improvement of regions’ innovativeness and investment attractiveness, the EU regions have long ago started paying attention to local communities. In particular, Polish local governments are granted an opportunity to conduct an active spatial policy of investment attraction using various instruments. In this context, the industrial parks play an important role among the created institutes of the business environment, because they create advantages for local communities and businesses. In particular, they promote investment attraction, entrepreneurship activation, employment and jobs increase, material cost minimization, etc. At the same time, the development of entrepreneurship environment institutes requires support at national, regional, and local levels. The development will be almost impossible without the creation of proper legal, political, economic, and social conditions for their activity. The paper aims to define major stimuli of industrial park development based on the Polish experience, the economic structure of which is similar to the Ukrainian one. This will contribute to the development of the ways to boost industrial park development in Ukraine, especially in the border areas. For the matter, the author outlines the major instruments used by Polish local communities to boost investment and entrepreneurship activity in the framework of industrial park development. The scientific paper emphasizes the analysis of legislation on creation, functioning, and support of Polish industrial park development, and further perspectives of their activity. Special attention is paid to general characteristics of the condition of industrial parks located in Polish border regions. The advantages of each of them are determined and examples of their creation and development are given. The research resulted in the allocation of two groups of stimuli of industrial parks development which are the precondition, according to the author, of industrial parks becoming the instrument of investment attraction, economic boost of the territories, and entrepreneurship activity growth: the stimuli of development of industrial parks’ organizational structure (public financial assistance; information and advisory support; grans of European funds; international cooperation / partnership; independent spatial policy at the local level) and the stimuli of entrepreneurship development in industrial parks (infrastructure (physical and soft); public financial assistance; tax incentives; investment grants; financial loans).

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