Suchergebnisse

It is often argued that local governance conflicts with the prescribed functioning of local councillors. We could wonder if councillors have become' fragments of local democracy, rather than the foundation they are supposed to be. This article empirically assesses the classic role-set (representation, policy, control) of local councillors in Belgian governance. Besides pointing to a gap between theory and practice, it underlines a substantial discrepancy between councillors' role attitude and subsequent behavior. This democratic deficit seems mainly due to the informal decision making culture in Belgian (local) politics, i.e. the dominance of the executive and stringent party discipline. Adapted from the source document.

The enhancement of the quality of life is implicitly seen by (local) governments as a touchstone of the effects of their policies. Nevertheless, there is little clarity about the social-scientific methods to measure it. In this contribution we examine the merits and demerits of the different scientific methods to measure the quality of life. The central theme is the discrepancy between the use of objective (economical or social) indicators on the one hand and subjective indicators on the other. The empirical part of our contribution is an illustration of how subjective indicators are used to measure the effects of local policy. It contains, in particular, a survey analysis in three Flemish cities (Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp). The results show that the determinants of the perceived quality of life do not conform with those that define the satisfaction with the local policy. In conclusion, besides factors that are endogenous to the policy, so-called exogenous factors must be taken into account in order to study the effects of local policy.

According to the new public management, the interaction between (local) governments and their citizens should be "client oriented". It is considered crucial for (local) policy-makers that they know how citizens perceive the policy process, that they know if citizens are satisfied with policy outcomes.Our empirical study deals with the satisfaction with global local policy. We examine the main determinants of satisfaction with global local policy. This study is based on a face-to-face survey among citizens entitled to vote in Ghent. More than 1500 respondents, spread over 2 surveys, took part in our research. Attention is also paid to the satisfaction with more specific aspects of local policy. We linked the voter's satisfaction with the global local policy to a wide range of traditional and less traditional independent variables. Finally, we discuss the satisfaction of the electorate of the different political parties.