Project summary: The project aims to understand local councillors’ attitudes towards participation by exploring the connection between representation and participation in the context of participatory governance expanded at the local level. It attempts to analyse how styles of representation are related to councillors’ attitudes towards participation, how open their role is to citizen involvement, and how contextual factors and other individual variables affect this relationship. The context is shown to be a central determinant of councillors’ attitudes and orientations, as it affects the costs and benefits of participatory policies, while other individual factors play their own role. The underlying motivation for this proposal is to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of embedding participatory policies in Catalan municipalities, which ultimately depend on the decisions of local political representatives. The project, therefore, has practical implications, as can help us understand the underlying factors that lead to a successful and useful participatory process.
Project duration: 27.09.2024 – 27.09.2026
Project members: Rosa Borge (IP), Joan Balcells, Oscar Barberà, Jaume Magre, Laia Márquez, Albert Padró-Solanet, Joel Peiruza, Carolina Plaza-Colodro
Funding: Institut d’Estudis de l’autogovern.