Local political parties and cleavages

Abstract

Today, the party democracy model faces a number of challenges, with lack of trust in parliament and local councils, voter turnout often is declining and political parties often play a weaker role as intermediaries between the citizens and the authorities. In this panel, papers discussing political cleavages and political parties at the local level. The papers discussed the decline of partisanship at the municipal level, and how local independent lists are different from the local branches of traditional political parties in municipal councils. They also elaborate upon the rise of urban left in major cities, a tendency that also are observed in smaller urban centres. In addition, one of the papers discussed the reasons politicians vote to decentralize power and resources. The studies represent a broad range of countries; the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Switzerland and Pakistan.

Title	Details
Political Parties and Decentralization in Pakistan	View Paper Details
Vanishing Partisanship at the Local Level in the Czech Republic	View Paper Details
Are local independent lists different from political parties in municipal councils? A study on the behaviour of councillors in Lithuania	View Paper Details