The aim of this article is to explore the differentiated attitudes towards power in Nordic regional networks. The analysis draws upon a unique comparative survey targeting regional network participants in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Three specific issues of power are studied: (1) the perceived influence of different actors in regional networks, (2) the perceived mandate of network members, and (3) the perceived impact of networks on regional development. When searching for the national political specifics that might determine participants' different attitudes, State administrative traditions and regional institutional set-ups are of particular interest. While regional governance in all countries is going through a period of transformative flux, the results show strong association with historical paths. The western countries' networks are characterised by less State influence, more influence by regional stakeholders, greater discretionary power of network members, and they are perceived to have more of an impact on regional development than their eastern counterparts. The results suggest that networks do not represent dichotomous alternatives to formal institutions of regional policy-making, but that they are linked to them in complex ways.
Does size of municipality have an impact on political support? This study investigates the connection between municipality size and political support in 55 Swedish municipalities. Three hypotheses about the connection between municipality size and political support are developed from previous research. These hypotheses claim negative, positive, and no connection between municipality size and political support. In the empirical analysis, two aspects of size (area and population) and eleven aspects of political support (five aspects of political trust, participation in parliamentary and municipal elections, political interests, party identification, and activity in associations) are included. The analysis also includes six aspects of municipality composition (age, education, ethnicity, income, labour market activity and urbanisation). When the three hypotheses are empirically tested, the analysis indicates that several aspects of political support have negative correlations with area size, while only one of the aspects has a negative correlation with population size. However, a major part of the investigated aspects has no connection with municipality size and the connections that are indicated by the analysis are only moderate in their strength.
In this article local governance in the Swedish context is discussed. A case study of a Swedish city is framed in its historical, national and international context. By locating the redevelopment of an old harbour within a historical context, new insights are brought into the understanding of local governance. Cities are indeed nested. Deteriorating public finances, the deregulation of the economy (nationally and globally), the changed status of the welfare state, the restructuring of industry and the neo-liberal wave all taken together form a formidable challenge. A radical questioning of the values,
principles and forms of the Swedish welfare state has tangible impacts on local governance. It is concluded that Swedish municipal actors face the dual challenge of acting efficiently (being sensitive to the needs and demands of local elites), while keeping democratic legitimacy (being sensitive to the needs and demands of all citizens).
The health of political parties and the institutions of representative democracy have been extensively questioned during the last decade due to evidence of a widespread decline in voting turnout, political trust, and party membership as well as identification. An often-proposed, but also often-questioned, strategy to strengthen representative democracy is for political institutions to offer alternative forms of political participation through so-called participatory initiatives. The literature suggests that participatory initiatives will have little impact on representative democracy if no adaptation among political representatives is apparent. This paper explores the consistency between participatory initiatives in Swedish municipalities and the attitudes, practices and role-taking of local councillors, comparing pioneer municipalities where extensive numbers of participatory initatives have been executed vis-à-vis hesitator municipalities where few initiatives have been implemented. The study indicates that local participatory initiatives may stimulate political representation by creating new channels for citizen input and communication between citizens and representatives that are supported by local councillors in the pioneer municipalities. However, the core roles of parties and councillors in representative democracy appear not to be challenged by these initiatives, being similar in both groups of municipalities. The article is concluded by a discussion of the implications of these results for the function of participatory initiatives in local democracy.