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Kjær, Ulrik; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2024).
Trust in regional and municipal politicians: a comparison of Denmark and Norway.
Vis sammendrag
In this paper, we explore and compare citizens’ trust in politicians at the municipal and regional levels in Denmark and Norway. Both countries have a generally high level of political trust, and they have similar structures for local and regional government. Structural reforms have been implemented at the municipal and regional level in both countries. However, whereas the municipal level has a strong standing in the political systems of both countries, the role of the regional level has been disputed and its tasks has been altered – but in different ways in the two countries. Moreover, while numerous studies pursue the question of trust in municipal councillors, less work has been done on citizens’ trust in regional councillors. Based on unique comparative data from the 2021 Danish Local Election Study and the 2023 Norwegian Local Election Study, in which identical questions have been asked, we analyse citizens’ trust in municipal and regional councillors empirically: To what extent do trust in regional politicians differ from trust in municipal politicians, and to what extent do trust in regional politicians differ between Denmark and Norway? And what can explain differences? Our primary interest lies in contextual explanations; size of the political unit and whether the unit is affected by structural reform.
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Rommetvedt, Hilmar & Saglie, Jo
(2024).
Historiske valg: kommunestyre- og fylkestingsvalgene 2023.
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Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2024).
Velgernes forhold til fylkes- og kommunepolitikk .
Vis sammendrag
Tidligere lokalvalgsundersøkelser i Norge har i hovedsak konsentrert seg om kommunevalg, og nøyd seg med å konstatere at velgerne viser liten interesse for fylkespolitikk. De siste årene har imidlertid det regionale nivået fått mer oppmerksomhet i Norge, ikke minst ved den omfattende sammenslåingen av fylker under Solberg-regjeringen, og deretter en oppsplitting av en del av de sammenslåtte fylkene under Støre-regjeringen.
Vi undersøker derfor velgernes forhold til fylkestingsvalg nærmere, med kommunestyrevalg som sammenligningsgrunnlag. Data hentes fra Lokalvalgsundersøkelsen 2023, der det er stilt flere spørsmål om fylkesnivået enn ved tidligere lokalvalgsundersøkelser. Vi undersøker velgernes interesse for fylkespolitikk og tillit til fylkespolitikere, sammenlignet med det kommunale nivået.
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Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2024).
Coalition formation in Norwegian municipalities: national blocs or local variation?
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Saglie, Jo
(2024).
Eldre og politisk representasjon.
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Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2024).
Coalition formation in Norwegian municipalities: national blocs or local variation?
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Saglie, Jo
(2024).
Hvor lokalt er lokalvalget?
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Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2024).
How local are Norwegian local elections?
Vis sammendrag
In this chapter, we first provide an overview of Norwegian local elections – including both municipal and county council elections. Several indicators point to a strong local democracy in Norway: Turnout is lower than in national elections but nevertheless stable. Young voters are mobilized, and most local parties recruit a balanced set of candidates which facilitates more gender equal representation. We then turn to the localness of Norwegian local elections. Municipal elections, in particular, are more than reflections of national politics. Whereas the party system is quite nationalized, voting is rather localized. Split-ticket voting, preference votes, the prevalence and significance of local issues, the importance of local media for voters, and untraditional local coalition formation all signify that municipal voting behaviour is quite localized. County council elections, on the other hand, are less different from national politics, and closer to the second-order model.
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Nordfjell, Laila Haugom & Saglie, Jo
(2024).
Unges deltakelse i det samiske demokratiet: motivasjon for å delta i sametingsvalg og stortingsvalg.
Vis sammendrag
In this chapter, we examine young Sámi voters’ motivation to vote in elections to the Sámi Parliament in Norway, contrasted with elections to the national parliament. We use semi-structured qualitative interviews with twelve informants from three different constituencies. Our starting point is two categories of explanations: individual and institutional factors. We find that the impact of the individual vote is perceived as greater in Sámi parliamentary elections, where there are fewer voters compared with Norwegian general elections. Furthermore, many of our informants mention specific issues as a motivation to vote in Sámi parliamentary elections, while the issues in the general election are described at a more abstract level. In the Sámi parliamentary elections, civic duty is linked to being a minority and the strength in numbers if everyone votes. In contrast, civic duty in general elections is linked to the role and power of the national parliament. Many of the informants regard individual candidates as more important in Sámi parliamentary elections than in general elections. In sum, young Sámi voters seem to feel closer to Sámi politics than national politics, but many thought that national elections had a greater impact on their lives. Moreover, compared to the wealth of available information on general elections, Sámi elections suffer from a lack of information on the Sámi Parliament and its parties.
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Saglie, Jo
(2023).
Samisk politisk tillit - fra Alta til Fosen.
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Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2023).
How local are Norwegian local elections?
Vis sammendrag
In this chapter, we first provide an overview of Norwegian local elections – including both municipal and county council elections. Several indicators point to a strong local democracy in Norway: Turnout is lower than in national elections but nevertheless stable. Young voters are mobilized, and most local parties recruit a balanced set of candidates which facilitates more gender equal representation. We then turn to the localness of Norwegian local elections. Municipal elections, in particular, are more than reflections of national politics. Whereas the party system is quite nationalized, voting is rather localized. Split-ticket voting, preference votes, the prevalence and significance of local issues, the importance of local media for voters, and untraditional local coalition formation all signify that municipal voting behaviour is quite localized. County council elections, on the other hand, are less different from national politics, and closer to the second-order model.
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Hesstvedt, Stine & Saglie, Jo
(2023).
Cross-cutting or overlapping? The urban-rural cleavage in a historical perspective.
Vis sammendrag
In the literature of electoral politics, geography has been rediscovered as a political cleavage. Traditionally, the work of Lipset and Rokkan (1967) described the urban-rural cleavage as a power struggle over economic resources and the centre–periphery cleavage as a struggle over national identity. Both of these cut across other cleavages. Current research, however, finds increased overlap in attitudes, depicting the rise of a green, progressive and left-leaning urban electorate and a nationalist and conservative rural population that contributes to elevated levels of polarization. This paper provides new knowledge about the development of the urban-rural cleavage in European multi-party systems over time, by analysing six decades of unique survey data from Norway. We ask: How and to what extent has the urban-rural cleavage become more overlapping or cross-cutting since the 1950s and until today? Specifically, we study changes in the attitudes of rural and urban populations towards new and old politics issues between 1977 and 2021. We also assess the changing content and saliency of the urban-rural cleavage by making use of Most Important Issue (MIP) survey questions. Overall, the paper contributes with novel insights of the development of a century-old cleavage that has again come to the fore in electoral politics.
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Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2023).
Lokale lister: Både innenfor og utenfor i 2023.
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Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2023).
The Party Branch and the Council Party Group: Who Governs? .
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Hesstvedt, Stine & Saglie, Jo
(2023).
Centre and periphery: a changing cleavage in Norwegian politics? .
Vis sammendrag
In the literature of electoral politics, geography has been rediscovered as a political cleavage. Traditionally, the work of Lipset and Rokkan (1967) described the urban-rural cleavage as a power struggle over economic resources and national identity that cut across other cleavages. Current research, however, finds increased overlap in attitudes, depicting the rise of a green, progressive and left-leaning urban electorate and a nationalist and conservative rural population that contributes to elevated levels of polarization. This paper provides new knowledge about the development of the urban-rural cleavage in European multi-party systems over time, by analysing six decades of unique survey data from Norway, where the cleavage have been persistently vital to electoral politics. Specifically, we study changes in the attitudes of rural and urban populations towards new and old politics issues between 1957 and 2021. We also assess the changing content and saliency of the urban-rural cleavage by making use of Most Important Issue (MIP) survey questions. Overall, the paper contributes with novel insights of the development of a century-old cleavage that has again come to the fore in electoral politics.
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Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2023).
The Party Branch and the Council Party Group: Who Governs?
Vis sammendrag
The relationship between the three organizational ‘faces’ of political parties – the party on the ground, the party central office, and the party in public office – has received much attention in the party literature. However, the relationship between the local party branch organization and the local party in public office has been left largely unexplored. In this paper, we explore the relationship between these two ‘faces‘ at the local level in the case of Norway – a multi-party system with large variation in municipal size. Based on a survey of leaders of municipal party branches and local lists, as well as qualitative interviews with branch and list leaders, we analyse the causes of variation regarding two dependent variables: the involvement of party branches in council work, and the degree of integration between the party branch and council group. Overall, the general picture is that the work in the two local party ‘faces’ is strongly integrated. However, we also find that that local branches of left-of-centre parties are more likely to be highly involved in council work, and less likely to be fully integrated with its council group. The left-of-centre tradition of giving more power to the extra-parliamentary organization seems to prevail. However, municipal size and party branch size also matter, although these effects are less consistent.
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Saglie, Jo
(2023).
Sentrum-periferi: en skillelinje i endring?
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Belschner, Jana Birke; Aars, Jacob & Saglie, Jo
(2023).
Does suffrage increase representation? Voting age reforms and the recruitment of young politicians.
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Saglie, Jo
(2022).
Lokalvalget i 2019: Nasjonale trender og lokale variasjoner .
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Saglie, Jo; Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2022).
Lokale listers paradoks: Både innenfor og utenfor.
Vis sammendrag
Lokale lister utgjør en viktig del av partisystemet i en del kommuner, men framstår likevel som en «underdog» sammenlignet med partiene. En årsak er at de har dårligere rammebetingelser, ved at de i praksis ikke kan registrere seg som partier. Lokale partilag og lokale lister gjør mye av det samme arbeidet i lokaldemokratiet, men har også hver sine unike fortrinn. I denne artikkelen kartlegger vi hva partilag og lister gjør, og stiller spørsmål ved grunnlaget for forskjellsbehandlingen.
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Saglie, Jo
(2022).
Stabilitet i en ustabil tid: status for partilag og lister.
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Saglie, Jo
(2022).
Sami Political Institutions and Indigenous National Representation in the North.
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Saglie, Jo; Solvang, Øystein & Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold
(2022).
Does municipal amalgamation affect trust in local politicians? The case of Norway.
Vis sammendrag
Studies of the municipal amalgamation reform in Denmark has demonstrated that political trust is vulnerable to changes in jurisdictional borders. In this paper, we explore the extent to which the large-scale municipal amalgamation reform in Norway of the 2010s affected citizens’ trust in local and national elected assemblies. Using data from before the merger and at the time of the merger, we compare the development of trust in local and national political assemblies in unmerged municipalities, ‘senior partners’ in merged municipalities, and ‘junior partners’ in merged municipalities. We regard the reform as a quasi-experiment and compare trends in merged and non-merged municipalities in order to examine the effect of size on political trust. Because trust in both the national government and local government could be affected by the reform, but only the local government changes in size, we compare trust in the two levels in order to separate the effects of size from the effects of reform in itself. Unlike results from studies of a similar reform in Denmark, we do not find evidence that the Local Government Reform has had significant negative effects on political trust. We argue that the likely reason for the difference between the Danish and Norwegian findings may be differences in the procedural aspects of the two reforms, but also that previous studies may not have been able to separate the effect of the reform process from the effect of size as such.
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Saglie, Jo; Solvang, Øystein & Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold
(2022).
Does municipal amalgamation affect trust in local politicians?
Vis sammendrag
In this paper, we explore to what extent the Norwegian Local Government Reform of the 2010s affected local political trust. We regard a large-scale municipal amalgamation reform as a quasi-experiment, which makes it possible to compare trends in merged and non-merged municipalities, and thereby separate the effects of changes in size from other trends. We use data from the Norwegian Local Election Studies of 2011 and 2019 (before and at the time of the merger), and compare the development of trust in both local and national politicians in 1) unmerged municipalities, 2) ‘senior partners’ in merged municipalities, and 3) ‘junior partners’ in merged municipalities. Unlike earlier studies from Denmark, we do not find strong evidence that the Local Government Reform has had significant negative effects on political trust. We argue that a possible reason for the difference between the Danish and Norwegian findings is that previous studies have not been able to separate the effect of the reform process from the effect of size as such. The reforms were implemented differently in the two countries, with potentially different consequences for political trust.
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Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold; Haugsgjerd, Atle; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2022).
What makes people trust or distrust politicians? A qualitative approach using open-ended survey questions.
Vis sammendrag
Research on political trust typically uses closed-ended survey questions that ask citizens how much they trust political actors, without defining the concept of trust. However, to say something about the consequences of political (dis)trust, we need to know what trust and distrust actually mean to people. Inspired by Van der Meer’s classification of judgement bases for political trust—competence, intrinsic and extrinsic commitment, and predictability—we analysed the responses to two open-ended survey questions about political trust and distrust. We found that Van der Meer’s trust criteria are relevant, but not exhaustive. We suggest a new category—responsiveness—to be added to the typology. Moreover, we found that citizens use different judgement bases to describe trust and distrust, suggesting that the two concepts are not pure negations of each other. While predictability is the basis most frequently reported for trusting politicians, lack of intrinsic commitment is the most frequently reported basis for distrusting politicians.
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Josefsen, Eva & Saglie, Jo
(2022).
The Sami Parliament in Norway: a ‘breaking in’ perspective.
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Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo
(2022).
Antisámism in Norway. Experiences of individually and collectively targeted ethnic hostility.
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Saglie, Jo
(2021).
The Nordic Sámi Parliaments: cases of non-territorial autonomy.
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Saglie, Jo
(2021).
Politiske skillelinjer og politisk avstand ved sametingsvalg.
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Saglie, Jo
(2021).
Hva skjedde ved lokalvalget i 2019?
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Saglie, Jo
(2021).
Politiske skillelinjer og politisk avstand ved sametingsvalg.
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Segaard, Signe Bock; Kjær, Ulrik & Saglie, Jo
(2021).
Why are there More Female Local Councillors in Norway than in Denmark? A Crack in the Nordic gender equality model .
Vis sammendrag
The paper analyses the gender balance in municipal councils in Norway and Denmark, starting from the observation that women are better represented in Norway than in Denmark (40.5 % vs. 32.9 %). The comparative case study of Norway and Denmark offers a most-similar-system-design, as these two countries are similar on most relevant parameters, such as local government systems, electoral systems, party systems, and societal gender equality, but deviate on the dependent variable of women’s representation. To explore the reasons, we analyse two unique comparative data sets 1) Complete data of all local candidates of the Norwegian 2019 municipal elections and the Danish 2017 municipal elections. 2) Data from representative voter surveys in both countries. We conclude that structural explanations related to municipal structure, the electoral system and party system do not appear relevant. On the other hand, the parties’ candidate selection matters. Why, then, are Norwegian parties more concerned with gender balance than their Danish counterparts? From an international perspective, both Norway and Denmark are regarded as part of a ‘Nordic gender equality model’. However, the two countries seem to differ regarding the role of gender equality on the political agenda and in the public debate. While gender equality continues to be on the societal agenda in Norway, this is not to the same extent the case in Denmark. This is also reflected in the practice of the political parties.
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Segaard, Signe Bock; Kjær, Ulrik & Saglie, Jo
(2021).
Why are there More Female Local Councillors in Norway than in Denmark? A Crack in the Nordic gender equality model .
Vis sammendrag
The paper analyses the gender balance in municipal councils in Norway and Denmark, starting from the observation that women are better represented in Norway than in Denmark (40.5 % vs. 32.9 %). The comparative case study of Norway and Denmark offers a most-similar-system-design, as these two countries are similar on most relevant parameters, such as local government systems, electoral systems, party systems, and societal gender equality, but deviate on the dependent variable of women’s representation. To explore the reasons, we analyse two unique comparative data sets 1) Complete data of all local candidates of the Norwegian 2019 municipal elections and the Danish 2017 municipal elections. 2) Data from representative voter surveys in both countries. We conclude that structural explanations related to municipal structure, the electoral system and party system do not appear relevant. On the other hand, the parties’ candidate selection matters. Why, then, are Norwegian parties more concerned with gender balance than their Danish counterparts? From an international perspective, both Norway and Denmark are regarded as part of a ‘Nordic gender equality model’. However, the two countries seem to differ regarding the role of gender equality on the political agenda and in the public debate. While gender equality continues to be on the societal agenda in Norway, this is not to the same extent the case in Denmark. This is also reflected in the practice of the political parties.
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Christensen, Dag Arne; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2021).
Lokalvalget 2019: Et fremoverskuende valg? .
I Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (Red.),
Lokalvalget 2019: Nye kommuner - nye valg?.
Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
s. 9–25.
doi:
10.23865/noasp.134.ch1.
Vis sammendrag
This introductory chapter presents some general features of the Norwegian Local Election Study of 2019. First, we take a close look at the conditions that shaped the 2019 local elections, especially the municipal amalgamation reform. The number of municipalities – 428 at the time of the 2015 local elections – had been reduced to 356 for the 2019 elections, and as a result, many voters cast their votes in a new, merged political unit – yet prior to the actual merger’s implementation. Next, we briefly review the history of the Norwegian Local Election Studies and then present the chapters in the book. The subsequent sections include a more detailed description of the data material on which the book is based and the voter survey in particular. We conclude with some reflections on the way ahead for Norwegian local election research
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Saglie, Jo; Bergh, Johannes & Rommetvedt, Hilmar
(2020).
Hva skjedde ved valget? Nasjonale trender og lokale variasjoner.
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Winsvold, Marte; Haugsgjerd, Atle; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2020).
Trust by default. What is political trust - and what is political distrust?
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Bergh, Johannes & Saglie, Jo
(2020).
Politisk avstand ved sametingsvalg.
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Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2020).
Lokaldemokratiets legitimitet - tillit,deltakelse og ulikhet. Avsluttende drøftelse.
I Segaard, Signe Bock (Red.),
Det norske lokaldemokratiets legitimitet. Tillit, deltakelse og ulikhet.
Institutt for samfunnsforskning.
s. 96–114.
Vis sammendrag
Hvor mye «goodwill» i form av legitimitet og folkets tillit har lokaldemokratiet, dets aktører og institusjoner egentlig å gå på? I denne rapporten belyser vi, ved hjelp av forskjellige perspektiver og et omfattende datamateriale, ulike aspekter ved politisk tillit og demokratisk legitimitet. Premisset vårt er at hvis demokratiet – og det lokale selvstyret mer spesifikt – skal fungere i praksis, må det ha oppslutning i befolkningen. På denne måten handler rapporten om grunnlaget for lokalpolitisk legitimitet og tillit, slik det ligger ikke bare i sosial og politisk (u)likhet i deltakelse og representasjon, men også i de systemer, medvirkningsstrukturer og prosesser som eksisterer i demokratiet, særlig på lokalt nivå. Rapporten retter søkelyset mot spesifikke problemstillinger knyttet til politisk og sosial (u) likhet i deltakelse og politisk tillit som så belyses gjennom empiriske analyser ut fra ulike perspektiver: innbyggerperspektiv, politikerperspektiv, systemperspektiv og prosessperspektiv. Hensikten er å forsøke å forstå generelle mønstre i utviklingen og statusen for den lokalpolitiske legitimiteten og tilliten: Hva skyldes disse mønstrene, og hvilke konsekvenser har de? Det er ikke mulig å gi entydige svar og ei heller å belyse alle årsaker og konsekvenser, men i denne rapporten vil noen av disse bli undersøkt og drøftet nærmere. Avslutningsvis samles trådene, og legitimiteten til det norske demokrati anno 2020 – og lokaldemokrati spesielt – drøftes.
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Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2020).
Tilliten til politikerne faller mest blant dem som har minst av den.
Aftenposten Viten.
s. 24–25.
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Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2020).
Local Elections and Voting in Norway.
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Flo, Yngve; Askim, Jostein; Vabo, Signy Irene; Fimreite, Anne Lise; Saglie, Jo & Aars, Jacob
[Vis alle 7 forfattere av denne artikkelen]
(2019).
Følgjeforskingsprosjekt kommune- og regionreforma. Eit presentasjon for embetsverket i KMD.
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Segaard, Signe Bock & Saglie, Jo
(2019).
A gender-generation gap in political representation? The impact of preferential voting in Norwegian municipal elections.
Vis sammendrag
The article looks into gender balance in municipal councils in ‘one of the most gender equal countries in the world’: Norway. We aim to combine a gender-generation approach and an intra-state context (municipal size) perspective. We ask: what is the impact of preferential votes on gender representation, and to what extent does the impact vary between age groups and municipalities? In order to analyse representation of men and women in different generations and in municipalities of different size, we use a complete data set with all candidates (58093) for the 2015 Norwegian municipal elections. These data enable us to compare actual representation with a hypothetical closed-list outcome (elected candidates if preferential votes had not counted, and list position alone had been decisive). The analyses clearly show that political representation in local councils is not just gendered – more men than women are elected – but characterized by a gender-generation gap. Older women are underrepresented, while young women are represented on equal terms with young men. Moreover, this gender-generation gap depends on municipal size and so does the impact of the open-list system. Indeed, young female candidates benefit from preferential voting in larger municipalities, whereas the older generation of women lose in both large and small municipalities.
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Saglie, Jo
(2019).
Do Party Organizations Integrate Multi-level States? The Case of the Norwegian Local Government Reform.
Vis sammendrag
Party organizations are often said to integrate the territorial levels in a multi-level political system. This paper analyses how party organizations handled a specific issue – a large-scale attempt to merge municipalities, initiated by the state – in a unitary state – Norway. Two types of organizational linkage are explored. First, bottom-up influence: to what extent did party branches attempt to influence national party policy? Second, top-down coordination: to what extent were party branches tools for implementing national party policy? Based on qualitative interviews in five Norwegian parties, the analyses show that party organizations provided linkage in different ways. In the most united parties, low levels of internal disagreement enabled the parties – at all levels – to promote their national policies. In divided parties, the party organization became an arena for competition between opposing views. These parties chose to emphasise local self-determination. Accordingly, they had less of a national policy to implement.
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Saglie, Jo; Bergh, Johannes & Mörkenstam, Ulf
(2019).
Political Cleavages in Indigenous Representation: The Case of the Norwegian and Swedish Sámediggis.
Vis sammendrag
In response to indigenous demands for self-determination, Norway and Sweden both established a Sámediggi (Sámi parliament) consisting of popularly elected Sámi representatives. The political systems of these two countries are generally regarded as similar. However, the legal bases, electoral systems and party systems of the two Sámediggis vary significantly, and so does their influence and autonomy within their respective political systems. In this paper, we compare the political cleavages that structure Sámi politics within the two countries. In Sweden, the main cleavage is caused by the ‘category split’ between reindeer herders and other Sámi, created by state policy. In contrast, disagreement on the extent of Sámi self-determination seems to be a major cleavage in Norwegian Sámi politics. The left-right dimension appears to be important in Norway, but not in Sweden. This depends on the fact that national Norwegian parties participate in Norwegian Sámi elections, unlike their counterparts in Sweden.
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Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd; Saglie, Jo & Østerud, Øyvind
(2019).
Politiske partier som demokratisk paradoks.
I Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd; Saglie, Jo & Østerud, Øyvind (Red.),
Makt og opposisjon : De politiske partiene som demokratisk paradoks.
Universitetsforlaget.
s. 13–25.
Vis sammendrag
"Makt og opposisjon" diskuterer partienes rolle i det norske demokratiet. Hva ved partiene fungerer relativt bra i Norge, og hva fungerer mindre godt? Boka tar for seg de norske partienes utforming og virke både i sivilsamfunnet
og i storting og regjering, sett i et internasjonalt perspektiv.
"Makt og opposisjon" inneholder både fagartikler og essays. I første del presenterer ledende forskere status og bidrar med ny forskning på hver sine felt, og de diskuterer partienes bidrag til å fremme ulike demokratiske verdier og demokratiaspekter. I andre del skriver et knippe tidligere og nåværende politikere samt én erfaren journalist og politisk kommentator om mange av de samme temaene, basert på egne erfaringer.
Slik får leseren kjennskap til hvordan problemstillingene fortoner seg for dem som selv er en del av eller jobber tett på det politiske liv, og vi får gode eksempler på hvordan partienes utfordringer fortoner seg i den politiske hverdagen.
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Saglie, Jo; Bergh, Johannes & Mörkenstam, Ulf
(2018).
Political Cleavages in Indigenous Representation: The Case of the Norwegian and Swedish Sámediggis.
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Segaard, Signe Bock & Saglie, Jo
(2018).
A gender-generation gap in political representation?
The impact of preferential voting in Norwegian municipal elections
.
Vis sammendrag
The article looks into gender balance in municipal councils in ‘one of the most gender equal countries in the world’: Norway. We aim to bring a new perspective to this field of research, by including a gender-generation approach. In addition, we analyse the impact of the intra-state context (municipal size) and ballot structure (open lists). First, we take Norris’ concept of a ‘gender-generation gap’ as the starting point: Is there a gender-generation gap in political representation, i.e. does the gender gap vary between generations? Second, despite high gender equality scores at the national level, Norway is also among the countries with the highest intra-state variation in local gender representation in Europe. Therefore, we ask: Does a potential gender-generation gap in Norwegian local councils depend on municipal size? Third, the article sheds light on the mechanisms by which a potential gender-generation gap arises by asking: What is the impact of preferential votes on gender-generation representation?
In order to analyse representation of men and women in different generations and in municipalities of different size, we use a complete data set with all candidates (58093) for the 2015 Norwegian municipal elections. These data also enable us to compare actual representation with a hypothetical closed-list outcome (elected candidates if preferential votes had not counted, and list position alone had been decisive).
The analyses clearly show that political representation in local councils is not just gendered – more men than women are elected – but characterized by a gender-generation gap. Older women are underrepresented, while young women are represented on equal terms with young men. Moreover, this gender-generation gap depends on municipal size and so does the impact of the open-list system. Indeed, young female candidates benefit from preferential voting in larger municipalities, whereas the older generation of women is harmed in both large and small municipalities.
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Saglie, Jo
(2018).
Do Party Organizations Integrate Multi-level States? The Case of the Norwegian Local Government Reform.
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Party organizations are often said to provide integrate the territorial levels in a multi-level political system, especially in a unitary state like Norway. However, even though earlier research has described such organizational linkage, we know less about how specific political issues are dealt with. There is also little research on unitary states, and on the municipal level. In this paper I explore how party organizations handled the current Norwegian Local Government Reform – a large-scale attempt to merge municipalities, initiated by the central government. I look into top-down coordination as well as bottom-up influence: To what extent were local and regional party branches tools for implementing the party’s national policy on the reform, and to what extent did local and regional party branches attempt to influence the party’s national policy? Based on qualitative interviews in five of the largest Norwegian parties, the analyses show that party organizations indeed provided linkage, but in quite different ways. In the two most united parties – the pro-reform Conservatives and the anti-reform Centre Party – the low level of internal disagreement enabled the party – at all levels – to promote its national policy. In the most divided parties – Labour and the Christian Democrats – the party organization functioned as an arena for competition between opposing views, and the outcome was a greater emphasis on local self-determination. Accordingly, these parties had less of a national policy to implement. The Progress Party falls between these extremes.
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Folkestad, Bjarte; Klausen, Jan Erling; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2018).
Can consultative referendums improve democracy?
Evidence from local referendums in Norway
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According to Norwegian law, municipal council should consult the citizens on matters of boundary changes, by means of referendums, opinion surveys, public meetings or in other ways. The tools are to be considered equal. Some kind of citizen participation was thus required in the current municipal reform. The national government recommended the use of opinion surveys. Nevertheless, many municipalities preferred to arrange a referendum. Referendum may be considered as an instrument for direct democracy as a mechanism for decision making or as an instrument for consulting citizens as a basis of decisions made by representative institutions. In the first case, a referendum will be binding, while in the second case it will, at least formally, be advisory. In Norway local referendums are always advisory, legally speaking. However, the legal understanding of local referendum does not totally correspond with the political understanding. This was particularly the case in the Norwegian municipal reform where more than 200 local referendums on municipal amalgamation were held. Many local politicians considered them politically binding.
With this empirical point of departure, we study and discuss: What influences the democratic quality and throughput legitimacy of participatory instruments in general and local referendums in particular?
The case of the Norwegian referendums sheds light on a more general question: the role of participatory political institutions in policy-making processes. The need for more participatory democracy and the idea that the involvement of citizens should be encouraged have been met with approval in both the literature as well by politicians; ‘democracy policy’ has appeared a new policy area. However, the praising of participatory democracy by itself or within the frame of the representative institutions particularly has a tendency to ignore essential dilemmas with potential consequences for democratic quality and hence; the throughput legitimacy. The paper sheds light on and contributes to an understanding of normative dilemmas and practical choices that local referendums may involve when used in political processes.
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Pettersen, Torunn & Saglie, Jo
(2018).
Hand i hand? Om "bysamer" som tema i valgprogram ved sametingsvalg i Norge 2009-2017.
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Christensen, Dag Arne & Saglie, Jo
(2017).
Lokalvalget 2015: tilbake til det normale?
I Saglie, Jo & Christensen, Dag Arne (Red.),
Lokalvalget 2015 - et valg i kommunereformens tegn?.
Abstrakt forlag.
s. 11–20.
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Det er først og fremst i kommunene at innbyggerne får anledning til å påvirke utformingen av politikk, og det er her den nasjonale velferdspolitikken blir omgjort til praktisk politikk. Men det norske kommunelandskapet er mangfoldig, og spenner fra storbyer til små utkantkommuner. Rammene for innbyggernes deltakelse og innflytelse er dermed ganske ulike.
Denne boken gir en bred oversikt over det norske lokaldemokratiet anno 2015. Bokens utgangspunkt er lokalvalget 2015. Mens lokalvalget i 2011 ble gjennomført i en helt spesiell situasjon rett etter terrorangrepet den 22. juli, var mye tilbake til det normale i 2015. Valget kan likevel vise seg å være et viktig vannskille – spesielt i småkommunene. Et viktig bakteppe for 2015-valget var utvilsomt kommunereformen. Da valget ble holdt var det 428 kommuner i Norge. Regjeringens ambisjon er å redusere antall kommuner betydelig. Dermed kan vi gi et tidsbilde av situasjonen før reformen settes ut i livet.
Boken er inndelt i fem tematiske bolker. De fire første kapitlene handler om selve valgresultatet og dekker temaer som stemmegivningen, deltakelsen i valget og betydningen av lokale lister. Deretter følger tre kapitler som går valgkampen etter i sømmene, og ser i hvilken grad partivalg, politisk interesse og oppfatninger av sakseierskap endrer seg i løpet av valgkampen. Den tredje bolken består av tre kapitler som studerer politisk deltakelse mellom valgene. Bokens fjerde bolk består av tre kapitler som studerer de unges og de eldres representasjon i lokalpolitikken. Bokens femte, og siste bolk, inneholder to kapitler, der det ene undersøker innbyggernes holdninger til kommunereformen. Det andre og avsluttende kapitlet trekker de lange linjene med bakgrunn i data fra 20 år med lokalvalgundersøkelser.
Boken henvender seg til alle som er interessert i utviklingen av det norske lokaldemokratiet, men kanskje særlig til studenter, forskere, journalister og politisk aktive.
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Folkestad, Bjarte; Klausen, Jan Erling; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock
(2017).
The legitimacy of local referendums on municipal amalgamation: An instrument for decision-making or consulting citizens?