The impact of local associational life on citizens` attitudes towards

The impact of local associational life on citizens’ attitudes towards local government Jacob Aars & Dag Arne Christensen

Putnam’s study of civic traditions in Italian regions (1993)  “Conditions for creating strong, responsive, effective representative institutions”  The vibrancy of associational life affects institutional performance:  The more associations within a community, the more responsive and effective government

A contextual argument  Context matters?  Vibrancy of associational life:  Contextual or compositional explanation

A multilevel analysis  The argument for individual-level dependent variables  The effects of institutional performance feeds back into the political system only through citizens’ perceptions  Creates demands/support

Three dependent variables  Effectiveness: Councillors’ knowledge about local issues  Effectiveness: Councillors’ ability to solve problems  Responsiveness: Councillors willingsness to listen to citizens’ views

Data  Individual level  Largest ever Norwegian survey of citizen attitudes towards public services and the political system

 12.659 respondents

 Municipal level  The Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities (Brønnøysund Register Centre)  Municipal-level data from the Regional Database, Norwegian Social Science Databases

Results

Table X. Multi-Level regressions: Final models with individual- and municipal-level effects Constant Individual effects Complain Political interest University education Progress Party Red-green parties Male Age Income Active resident org. Active sports org. Active unions Active music org. Active state church Active other rel/livssyn. Municipal effects Number of organisations Population (logged) Number of parties University education Poverty

Knowledge 5.100****

Capacity 4.936***

Listen 5.015****

-0.490*** 0.071*** -0.009 -0.274*** 0.145*** -0.139*** 0.008*** -0.007 -0.031 -0.006 -0.025 0.040 0.065* 0.249***

-0..481*** 0.067*** 0.002 -0.294*** 0.197*** -0.146*** 0.009*** -0.017** -0.019 0.006 0.014 0.052 0.078** 0.195***

-0.481*** 0.094*** 0.068** -0.352*** 0.136*** -0.127*** 0.007*** -0.000 0.006 0.027 0.037 0.076 0.041 0.235***

-0.212*** -0.166*** -0.164*** -0.153*** -0.107*** -0.135*** -0.098*** -0.124** -0.118*** .0021*** 0.016** 0.019*** 0.004 -0.016 -0.005 Random effects (variance components) Individual-level variance 1.890 1.841 1.948 Municipal-level variance 0.078 0.137 0.121 ICC 3.987 6.935 5.833 N Level-1 8170 8867 8890 N Level-2 408 410 409 Note: Table entries are maximum likelihood estimates. *** p< 0.01, ** p< 0.05, * p