The relationship between local councillors’ representative style and their support for participatory democracy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6316347 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nina De Smedt (0000-0001-8985-2258, Ghent University, corresponding author), Tessa Haesevoets (0000-0001-7167-1299, Ghent University), Kristof Steyvers (0000-0002-4009-0050, Ghent University), Bram Wauters (0000-0003-4216-2094, Ghent University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 700-713 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Party Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-0688 • E-ISSN: 1460-3683 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13540688241261954 |
| OpenAlex | W4400657276 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 43 |
During 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 are 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
Citizen journalism · Democracy · Geography · Participatory democracy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Law · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Media and Politics · Social Policy and Reform Studies
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| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |