Do Female Support and Implement Participatory Tools? The Perceptions of Participatory Democracy Across European Councillors

The research investigates the factors that are associated with the positive attitudes towards democratic innovation tools in Europe with a focus on the gender and age of the mayor. Key characteristics of the different leadership styles of mayors and councillors are their age and their gender. Younger representatives are more likely to look for innovative modes of government than older mayors and councillors (see Heinelt 2013). This is especially the case in post-communist countries where the older political elite was socialised under totalitarian regimes that were hostile to civic participation. However, a recent change in the beliefs and opinions of new generation in a democratic society is challenging the traditional modes of government and we can assume that the younger generation of mayors is more open to new forms of governance while older mayors are more likely to prefer an authoritarian leadership style. Similarly, gender can also be associated with different leadership styles, as women prefer collective and participatory decisions over authoritarian decision-making. They might prefer civic participation and the involvement of multiple actors in municipal politics more. The analysis is based on the recent survey data of European Councillors (The Return of Councillors project organized by Hubert Heinelt, Björn Egner, Tom Verhelst and Jakub Lysek). From preliminary data analysis, we see that female councillors support participatory governance more than male councillors, while male councillors are significantly more in favour of representative democracy than female councillors. Additionally, the opinion survey is merged for the Czech Republic with real data on the frequency of participatory tools in Czech municipalities. This case study forwards the argument that not only believe and norms but also real policy is done differently by female politici.