| ID | 094980 |
| Title Proper | Party politicisation of local councils |
| Other Title Information | cultural or institutional explanations for trends in Denmark, 1966-2005 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Kjaer, Ulrik ; Elklit, Jorgen |
| Publication | 2010. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Local government party systems are not necessarily copies of the national party system. In many countries, local party systems have come to resemble the national one more and more - a process Rokkan termed 'party politicisation'. The traditional expectation has been that the take-over of local politics by political parties, through a gradual process of societal modernisation, would eventually be complete. More recently, however, it has been suggested that reorganisations of the institutional set-up - that is, amalgamations of municipalities - could entail developments in the degree of local party system nationalisation. This article investigates cultural and institutional explanations for party politicisation by analysing the Danish case from 1966 to 2005 - a period that witnessed both major amalgamation reforms and periods of stability in the local government structure. The data suggest that dramatic party politicisation does not lend itself to cultural explanations, but originates exclusively from changes in the institutional set-up. Party politicisation is not a gradual process, but comes - at least in Denmark - in leaps coinciding with major reorganisations of the local government structure. |
| `In' analytical Note | European Journal of Political Research Vol. 49, No. 3; May 2010: p337-358 |
| Journal Source | European Journal of Political Research Vol. 49, No. 3; May 2010: p337-358 |
| Key Words | Politicisaton ; Local Council ; Culture ; Denmark ; National Party System |