Matches in UGent Biblio for { ?s ?p This paper addresses the vision of local councilors in Belgium towards democratic renewal at the local level. First, the explorative-descriptive analysis portrays councillors’ vision on three levels. Regarding specific local government reforms, councilors seem to be rather conservative or neutral. The analysis of representative style shows the prevalence of the trustee-model, albeit softer variants dominate their more absolutist counterparts. Indeed, councilors do support forms of citizen deliberation but rather prefer to hang on to their ultimate responsibility in decision-making. In reality, however, political parties remain the key reference points in representation. When looking at the general level of local democracy as such, conceptualized as hybrid democracy, councilors prefer network democracy to the participatory and (especially) market form. Second, the explanatory-structural analysis verifies the influence of place and professionalization upon the latter conception of local democracy. Whereas scale and social professionalization don’t seem to matter, region and political professionalization do to a diversified and limited extent.. }
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- aggregation abstract "This paper addresses the vision of local councilors in Belgium towards democratic renewal at the local level. First, the explorative-descriptive analysis portrays councillors’ vision on three levels. Regarding specific local government reforms, councilors seem to be rather conservative or neutral. The analysis of representative style shows the prevalence of the trustee-model, albeit softer variants dominate their more absolutist counterparts. Indeed, councilors do support forms of citizen deliberation but rather prefer to hang on to their ultimate responsibility in decision-making. In reality, however, political parties remain the key reference points in representation. When looking at the general level of local democracy as such, conceptualized as hybrid democracy, councilors prefer network democracy to the participatory and (especially) market form. Second, the explanatory-structural analysis verifies the influence of place and professionalization upon the latter conception of local democracy. Whereas scale and social professionalization don’t seem to matter, region and political professionalization do to a diversified and limited extent.".