Municipal Size and Local Nonelectoral Participation: Findings from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway

Abstract

This paper undertakes an analysis of five forms of local nonelectoral participation in three European countries. The primary question of interest is whether or not there is any systematic relationship between these forms of nonelectoral participation and the size of local political – administrative units. It is argued that, to the extent it is reasonable to expect size to be relevant, the nature of the relationships is likely to vary from one form of participation to another. Analyses are based on survey data collected during the 1990s in each country by means of logistic regression with a common set of variables. Although the findings vary somewhat from one country to another, and are not always in keeping with theoretical expectations, they nonetheless indicate that size does indeed appear to make some difference, even after controlling for the effects of individual characteristics. The effect of size, in other words, is not merely a byproduct of the compositional characteristics of the individuals living in different sized municipalities, as is sometimes suggested.