Work

How institutional designs condition perceived local political leadership

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: This article aims to test whether local governments can enhance the elected councillors’ perceived political leadership by changing the institutional design that conditions their ability to define problems that call for collective action, design policy solutions and mobilise support for their implementation. The study draws on new research on political leadership and institutional design and data from surveys conducted in Denmark and Norway. The analytical framework distinguishes between four different but overlapping institutional design strategies, and the main finding is that institutional designs aiming to enhance executive, collective or distributive political leadership are associated with an increase in perceived political leadership, whereas – surprisingly – institutional designs aiming to enhance interactive political leadership are not. Upon closer inspection, however, the impact of interactive institutional designs on political leadership seems to be conditioned on whether the power relation between politicians and administrators is balanced or unbalanced.

Source: Local Government Studies

DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2020.1821664

Authors: Jacob Torfing, Tina Øllgaard Bentzen, Marte Slagsvold Winsvold

Institutions: Roskilde University, University of Oslo

Language: English

Topic: Public Administration and Political Analysis

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funder: Norges Forskningsråd