Attitudes towards Politics in a Multilevel Political System The Case of

1. Attitudes towards Politics in a Multilevel Political System The Case of Political Competence Feelings European National Local Dr. Angelika Vetter

2. Why do I look at Political Attitudes? science education INPUT OUTPUT the political system economy Feedback Implementation Control Interest Articulation Interest Aggregation Decision Making traffic Dr. Angelika Vetter

3. 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) Dr. Angelika Vetter

4. 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. Dr. Angelika Vetter

5. 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.” Dr. Angelika Vetter

6. 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.“ Dr. Angelika Vetter

7. Attitudes towards Local Politics: A Resource for Democracy? National Output Orientations Feelings of National Identification National Input Orientations spillover effects spillover effects spillover effects positive positive positive Local Input Orientations Local Output Orientations Feelings of Local Identification Dr. Angelika Vetter

8. My Research Questions • Can feelings of local political competence serve as a resource for competence feelings at higher system levels? • 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? Dr. Angelika Vetter

9. 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 Dr. Angelika Vetter

10. 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. Dr. Angelika Vetter

11. 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). Dr. Angelika Vetter

12. Can feelings of local political competence serve as a resource for competence feelings at higher system levels?Conditions for a positive attitudinal transfer Dr. Angelika Vetter

13. 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 some­thing about it, or not?' Answer possibilities: 1. Yes, 2. No, 3. Don't know / no answer. Data from Inra Europe. Dr. Angelika Vetter

14. Feelings of Local and National Political Competence in Western Europe, 1999 (in % of all respondents) Dr. Angelika Vetter

15. Levels of local and national political competence in Europe and their relationship (1999, in % of all respondents; Cramer’s V) Dr. Angelika Vetter

16. Can feelings of local political competence serve as a resource for competence feelings at higher system levels? Dr. Angelika Vetter

17. 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. Dr. Angelika Vetter

18. Measuring Local Autonomy in Western Europe Dr. Angelika Vetter

19. 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 Dr. Angelika Vetter

20. The Two Dimensions of Local Autonomy in Western Europe Dr. Angelika Vetter

21. Measuring Local Integrative Capacity Dr. Angelika Vetter

22. Are there structural factors that support locally socialized attitudes to be transferred to higher levels of government? Dr. Angelika Vetter

23. Are there structural factors that support locally socialized attitudes to be transferred to higher levels of government? Dr. Angelika Vetter

24. 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. Dr. Angelika Vetter