Direct Mayoral Elections in Slovenia and England: Traditions and Trends Compared
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4335/13.3.697-718(2015)Keywords:
direct elections, local politics, mayor, partisanship, political parties, England, SloveniaAbstract
Direct mayoral elections have in recent decades become an important and popular feature of many local governments across Europe. The direct election of the mayor enhances the accountability and transparency of local political leadership and gives voters the opportunity to gain important influence on local politics. This contrasts with councillors who choose the mayor in single-party private settings. This article provides a case study analysis of two directly elected mayors in contrasting political settings, namely England and Slovenia. Whereas England is regarded as the mother of all Parliaments, Slovenia’s democratic traditions are more recent. Yet nonetheless Slovenia displays all the features of a strong local democracy where an independent mayoral system operates within a nonpartisan political setting. By contrast, whereas England provides the longest-standing case of local democracy in Europe, directly elected mayors have only recently been introduced into the political system, the outcome of which has been mixed in terms of successfulness and acceptance by national political parties within municipalities.
References
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Bottom, K. & Copus, C. (2011) Independent politics: Why seek to serve and survive as an Independent Councillor?, Public Policy and Administration, 26(3), pp. 279–305.
Centre for Political Science Research (2003) Research project »Viewpoints on local democracy« (Ljubljana: Faculty of Social Sciences).
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Centre for Public Opinion Research (2003) Research Politbarometer (Ljubljana: Centre for Public Opinion Research), available at: http://www.sigov.si (May 28, 2015).
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Centre for Public Opinion Research (2014) Research Politbarometer (Ljubljana: Centre for Public Opinion Research), available at: http://www.cjm.si/ul/2014/PB_6_14.pdf (May 28, 2015).
Chandler, J. A. (2007) Explaining Local Government: Local Government in Britain Since 1800 (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Cheneval, F. & Schimmelfennig, F. (2013) The Case for Democracy in the European Union, Journal of Common Market Studies, 51(2), pp. 334–350.
Copus, C. (2004) Party Politics and Local Government (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Copus, C. (2006) Leading the Localities: Executive Mayors in English Local Governance (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Copus, C. (2010) The Councillor: Governor, Governing, Governance and the Complexity of Citizen Engagement, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 12(4), pp. 569–589.
Copus, C. (2011a) Elected Mayors in English Local Government: Mayoral Leadership and Creating a new Political Dynamic, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self Government, 9(4), pp. 335–351.
Copus, C. (2011b) English Local Government: Reflecting a Nation’s Past or Merely an Administrative Convenience? In Aughey A. & Berberich, C. (eds.) These Englands (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 193–213.
Copus, C. & Dadd, M. (2014) It’s a Proper Job: Process, People and Power in an English City, Public Money and Management, 34(5), pp. 323–330.
Copus, C. & Erlingsson, G. (2012) Parties in Local Government: A Review, Representation, 48(2), pp. 235–247.
Dearlove, J. (1973) The Politics of Policy in Local Government: The Making and Maintenance of Public Policy in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (London: Cambridge University Press).
Denters, B. & Rose, L. (2005) Comparing Local Governance: Trends and Developments (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmilan).
DETR (1998) Modern Local Government: In Touch with the People, Cmnd 4041 (London: HMSO).
DETR (1999) Local Leadership: Local Choice (London: HMSO).
Dolowitz, P. D. & Marsh, D. (1996) Who Learns What from Whom: A Review of the Policy Transfer Literature, Political Studies, 46(2), pp. 343–357
Dolowitz, P. D. & Marsh, D. (2000) Learning from abroad: the role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making, International Journal of Policy and Administration, 13(1), pp. 5–24.
Elcock, H. (2008), Elected mayors: Lesson drawing from four countries, Public Administration, 86(3), pp. 795–811
Elcock, H. & Fenwick, J. (2007) Comparing elected mayors, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 20(3), pp. 226–238.
Evans, M. (2009) Policy transfer in critical perspective, Policy Studies, 30(3), pp. 243–268.
Fallend, F., Ignits, G. & Swianiewicz (2006) Divided Loyalties? Mayors between Party Representation and Local Community Interests. In: Bäck, H., Heinelt, H. & Magnier, A. (eds.) The European Mayor: Political Leaders in the Changing Context of Local Democracy, Urban and Regional Research International (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag for Sozialwissenschaften), pp. 245–270 .
Fenwick, J. & Elcock, H. (2014) Elected Mayors: Leading Locally?, Local Government Studies, 40(4), pp. 581–599.
Fenwick, J., Elcock, H. & McMillan, J. (2006) Leadership and management in UK local government: a role for elected mayors?, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 72(3), pp. 431–447.
Fink-Hafner, D. (1997) Development of a party system. In: Fink-Hafner, D. & Robbins, J. R. (eds.) Making a new nation: The formation of Slovenia (Brookfield, Singapur, Sydney in Dartmouth: Aldershot), pp. 135–155.
Fink-Hafner, D. & Krašovec, A. (2000) Dejavniki strankarske podpore kandidatkam na lokalni in nacionalni ravni političnega sistema, Družboslovne razprave, 16(34–35), pp. 141–165.
Fraser, D. (1979) Power and Authority in the Victorian City (New York: St Martin’s Press).
Glassberg, A. (1981) Representation and Urban Community (London: Macmillan).
Green, D. G. (1981) Power and Party in an English City: An Account of Single-Party Rule (London: Allen and Unwin).
Gyford, J. (1985) The Politicisation of Local Government. In: Loughlin, M., Gelfand, D. & Young, K. (eds.) Half a Century of Municipal Decline (London: Allen & Unwin), pp. 77–97.
Gyford, J. & James, M. (1983) National Parties and Local Politics (London: Allen and Unwin).
Hansen, T. & Rose, L. E. (2007) Assessing the vitality of local democracy: what considerations apply?, paper presented at 4th ECPR General Conference, Pisa, Italy, 6–8 September 2007.
Hennock, E. P. (1973) Fit and Proper Persons: Ideal and Reality in Nineteenth-Century Urban Government (London: Edward Arnold).
Jones, G. W. (1969) Borough Politics: A Study of Wolverhampton Borough Council 1888-1964 (London: Macmillan).
Kersting, N. & Vetter, A. (eds.) (2003) Reforming Local Government in Europe: Closing the gap between Democracy and Efficiency (Opladen: Leske + Budrich).
Krašovec, A. (2000) Moč v političnih strankah (Ljubljana: Faculty of Social Sciences).
Kukovič, S. & Haček, M. (2013) The re-election of mayors in the Slovenian local self-government, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self Government, 11(2), pp. 87–99.
Lapalombara, J. & Anderson, J. (1992) Political Parties. In: Hawkesworth, M. & Kogan, M. (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Government and Politics, vol. 1 (London: Routledge).
Leach, S. & Wilson, D. (2000) Local Political Leadership (Bristol: The Policy Press).
Lee, J. M. (1963) Social Leaders and Public Persons: A Study of County Government in Cheshire since 1888 (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
Leitch, J. (2002) Securing a Yes Vote in a Mayoral Referendum, Local Governance, 28(2), pp. 125–129.
Lukšič, I. (1994) Nestrankarstvo na Slovenskem. In: Lukšič, I. (ed.) Stranke in strankarstvo (Ljubljana: Slovenian Political Science Association).
Magre, J. & Bertrana, X. (2007) Exploring the limits of institutional change: The direct election of mayors in Western Europe, Local Government Studies, 33(2), pp. 181–194.
Miller, A. H. & Watternberg, M. P. (1983) Measuring Party Identification: Independent or No Partisan Preference?, American Journal of Political Science, 27(1), pp. 106–121.
Montero, J. R. & Gunther, R. (2002) Introduction: Reviewing and Reassesing Parties. In: Gunther, R., Montero, J. R. & Lintz, J .J. (eds.) Political Parties: Old Concepts and New Challenges (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Mouritzen, P. E. & Svara, J. H. (2002) Leadership at the Apex: Politicians and administrators in Western Local Government (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh).
Norris, P. (2011) Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens revisited (New York: Cambridge University Press).
Owen, D. (1982) The Government of Victorian London 1855-1889: The Metropolitan Board of Works, the Vestries and the City Corporation (Boston: Harvard University Press).
Rallings, C. & Thrasher, M. (1997) Local Elections in Britain (London and New York: Routledge).
Rallings, C. & Thrasher, M. (2013) Local Elections Handbook 2013 (Plymouth: Biteback Publishing).
Sandford, M. (2014) Directly-elected mayors, available at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN05000/
directly elected-mayors (May 28, 2015).
Saunders, P. (1979) Urban Politics: A Sociological Interpretation (London: Hutchinson).
Schattschneider, E. E. (1942) Party Government (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston).
Svara, J. H. (ed.) (1994) Facilitative Leadership in Local Government: Lessons from Successful mayors and Chairpersons (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass).
Vodovnik, Ž. (2011) Rethinking Democracy: A Discourse on Municipalised Democracy and Translocal Citizenship, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self Government, 9(2), pp. 163–178.
Wilson, D. & Game, C. (2011) Local Government in the United Kingdom (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan).
Wollmann, H. (2004) Urban Leadership in German Local Politics: The Rise, Role and Performance of the Directly Elected (Chief Executive) Mayor, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28(1), pp. 150–165.
Wollmann, H. (2008) Reforming Local Leadership and Local Democracy: The Cases of England, Sweden, Germany and France in Comparative Perspective, Local Government Studies, 34(2), pp. 279–298.
Young, K. (1975) Local Politics and the Rise of Party: The London Municipal Society and the Conservative Intervention in Local Elections, 1894-1963 (Leicester: Leicester University Press).
Zuckerman, A. & West, D. (1985) The Political Bases of Citizen Contracting, American Political Science Review, 79(1), pp. 117–131.</span></p>
Bealey, F., Blondel, J. & McCann, P. W. (1965) Constituency Politics: A Study of Newcastle-under-Lyme (London: Faber and Faber).
Belamy, R. & Kröger, S. (2014) Domesticating the Democratic Deficit? The Role of National Parliaments and Parties in the EU's System of Governance, Parliamentary Affaris, 67(2), pp. 437–457.
Berg, R. & Rao, N. (eds.) (2005) Transforming Local Political Leadership (London: Palgrave).
Birch, A. H. (1959) Small Town Politics: A Study of Political Life in Glossop (London: Oxford University Press).
Bottom, K. & Copus, C. (2011) Independent politics: Why seek to serve and survive as an Independent Councillor?, Public Policy and Administration, 26(3), pp. 279–305.
Centre for Political Science Research (2003) Research project »Viewpoints on local democracy« (Ljubljana: Faculty of Social Sciences).
Centre for Public Opinion Research (2001) Research Slovenian Public Opinion (SPO) (Ljubljana: Centre for Public Opinion Research), available at: http://www.adp.fdv.uni-lj.si/opisi/sjm012/ (May 28, 2015).
Centre for Public Opinion Research (2003) Research Politbarometer (Ljubljana: Centre for Public Opinion Research), available at: http://www.sigov.si (May 28, 2015).
Centre for Public Opinion Research (2008) Research Politbarometer (Ljubljana: Centre for Public Opinion Research), available at: http://www.cjm.si/PB_rezultati (May 28, 2015).
Centre for Public Opinion Research (2014) Research Politbarometer (Ljubljana: Centre for Public Opinion Research), available at: http://www.cjm.si/ul/2014/PB_6_14.pdf (May 28, 2015).
Chandler, J. A. (2007) Explaining Local Government: Local Government in Britain Since 1800 (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Cheneval, F. & Schimmelfennig, F. (2013) The Case for Democracy in the European Union, Journal of Common Market Studies, 51(2), pp. 334–350.
Copus, C. (2004) Party Politics and Local Government (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Copus, C. (2006) Leading the Localities: Executive Mayors in English Local Governance (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Copus, C. (2010) The Councillor: Governor, Governing, Governance and the Complexity of Citizen Engagement, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 12(4), pp. 569–589.
Copus, C. (2011a) Elected Mayors in English Local Government: Mayoral Leadership and Creating a new Political Dynamic, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self Government, 9(4), pp. 335–351.
Copus, C. (2011b) English Local Government: Reflecting a Nation’s Past or Merely an Administrative Convenience? In Aughey A. & Berberich, C. (eds.) These Englands (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 193–213.
Copus, C. & Dadd, M. (2014) It’s a Proper Job: Process, People and Power in an English City, Public Money and Management, 34(5), pp. 323–330.
Copus, C. & Erlingsson, G. (2012) Parties in Local Government: A Review, Representation, 48(2), pp. 235–247.
Dearlove, J. (1973) The Politics of Policy in Local Government: The Making and Maintenance of Public Policy in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (London: Cambridge University Press).
Denters, B. & Rose, L. (2005) Comparing Local Governance: Trends and Developments (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmilan).
DETR (1998) Modern Local Government: In Touch with the People, Cmnd 4041 (London: HMSO).
DETR (1999) Local Leadership: Local Choice (London: HMSO).
Dolowitz, P. D. & Marsh, D. (1996) Who Learns What from Whom: A Review of the Policy Transfer Literature, Political Studies, 46(2), pp. 343–357
Dolowitz, P. D. & Marsh, D. (2000) Learning from abroad: the role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making, International Journal of Policy and Administration, 13(1), pp. 5–24.
Elcock, H. (2008), Elected mayors: Lesson drawing from four countries, Public Administration, 86(3), pp. 795–811
Elcock, H. & Fenwick, J. (2007) Comparing elected mayors, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 20(3), pp. 226–238.
Evans, M. (2009) Policy transfer in critical perspective, Policy Studies, 30(3), pp. 243–268.
Fallend, F., Ignits, G. & Swianiewicz (2006) Divided Loyalties? Mayors between Party Representation and Local Community Interests. In: Bäck, H., Heinelt, H. & Magnier, A. (eds.) The European Mayor: Political Leaders in the Changing Context of Local Democracy, Urban and Regional Research International (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag for Sozialwissenschaften), pp. 245–270 .
Fenwick, J. & Elcock, H. (2014) Elected Mayors: Leading Locally?, Local Government Studies, 40(4), pp. 581–599.
Fenwick, J., Elcock, H. & McMillan, J. (2006) Leadership and management in UK local government: a role for elected mayors?, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 72(3), pp. 431–447.
Fink-Hafner, D. (1997) Development of a party system. In: Fink-Hafner, D. & Robbins, J. R. (eds.) Making a new nation: The formation of Slovenia (Brookfield, Singapur, Sydney in Dartmouth: Aldershot), pp. 135–155.
Fink-Hafner, D. & Krašovec, A. (2000) Dejavniki strankarske podpore kandidatkam na lokalni in nacionalni ravni političnega sistema, Družboslovne razprave, 16(34–35), pp. 141–165.
Fraser, D. (1979) Power and Authority in the Victorian City (New York: St Martin’s Press).
Glassberg, A. (1981) Representation and Urban Community (London: Macmillan).
Green, D. G. (1981) Power and Party in an English City: An Account of Single-Party Rule (London: Allen and Unwin).
Gyford, J. (1985) The Politicisation of Local Government. In: Loughlin, M., Gelfand, D. & Young, K. (eds.) Half a Century of Municipal Decline (London: Allen & Unwin), pp. 77–97.
Gyford, J. & James, M. (1983) National Parties and Local Politics (London: Allen and Unwin).
Hansen, T. & Rose, L. E. (2007) Assessing the vitality of local democracy: what considerations apply?, paper presented at 4th ECPR General Conference, Pisa, Italy, 6–8 September 2007.
Hennock, E. P. (1973) Fit and Proper Persons: Ideal and Reality in Nineteenth-Century Urban Government (London: Edward Arnold).
Jones, G. W. (1969) Borough Politics: A Study of Wolverhampton Borough Council 1888-1964 (London: Macmillan).
Kersting, N. & Vetter, A. (eds.) (2003) Reforming Local Government in Europe: Closing the gap between Democracy and Efficiency (Opladen: Leske + Budrich).
Krašovec, A. (2000) Moč v političnih strankah (Ljubljana: Faculty of Social Sciences).
Kukovič, S. & Haček, M. (2013) The re-election of mayors in the Slovenian local self-government, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self Government, 11(2), pp. 87–99.
Lapalombara, J. & Anderson, J. (1992) Political Parties. In: Hawkesworth, M. & Kogan, M. (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Government and Politics, vol. 1 (London: Routledge).
Leach, S. & Wilson, D. (2000) Local Political Leadership (Bristol: The Policy Press).
Lee, J. M. (1963) Social Leaders and Public Persons: A Study of County Government in Cheshire since 1888 (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
Leitch, J. (2002) Securing a Yes Vote in a Mayoral Referendum, Local Governance, 28(2), pp. 125–129.
Lukšič, I. (1994) Nestrankarstvo na Slovenskem. In: Lukšič, I. (ed.) Stranke in strankarstvo (Ljubljana: Slovenian Political Science Association).
Magre, J. & Bertrana, X. (2007) Exploring the limits of institutional change: The direct election of mayors in Western Europe, Local Government Studies, 33(2), pp. 181–194.
Miller, A. H. & Watternberg, M. P. (1983) Measuring Party Identification: Independent or No Partisan Preference?, American Journal of Political Science, 27(1), pp. 106–121.
Montero, J. R. & Gunther, R. (2002) Introduction: Reviewing and Reassesing Parties. In: Gunther, R., Montero, J. R. & Lintz, J .J. (eds.) Political Parties: Old Concepts and New Challenges (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Mouritzen, P. E. & Svara, J. H. (2002) Leadership at the Apex: Politicians and administrators in Western Local Government (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh).
Norris, P. (2011) Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens revisited (New York: Cambridge University Press).
Owen, D. (1982) The Government of Victorian London 1855-1889: The Metropolitan Board of Works, the Vestries and the City Corporation (Boston: Harvard University Press).
Rallings, C. & Thrasher, M. (1997) Local Elections in Britain (London and New York: Routledge).
Rallings, C. & Thrasher, M. (2013) Local Elections Handbook 2013 (Plymouth: Biteback Publishing).
Sandford, M. (2014) Directly-elected mayors, available at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN05000/
directly elected-mayors (May 28, 2015).
Saunders, P. (1979) Urban Politics: A Sociological Interpretation (London: Hutchinson).
Schattschneider, E. E. (1942) Party Government (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston).
Svara, J. H. (ed.) (1994) Facilitative Leadership in Local Government: Lessons from Successful mayors and Chairpersons (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass).
Vodovnik, Ž. (2011) Rethinking Democracy: A Discourse on Municipalised Democracy and Translocal Citizenship, Lex Localis – Journal of Local Self Government, 9(2), pp. 163–178.
Wilson, D. & Game, C. (2011) Local Government in the United Kingdom (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan).
Wollmann, H. (2004) Urban Leadership in German Local Politics: The Rise, Role and Performance of the Directly Elected (Chief Executive) Mayor, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28(1), pp. 150–165.
Wollmann, H. (2008) Reforming Local Leadership and Local Democracy: The Cases of England, Sweden, Germany and France in Comparative Perspective, Local Government Studies, 34(2), pp. 279–298.
Young, K. (1975) Local Politics and the Rise of Party: The London Municipal Society and the Conservative Intervention in Local Elections, 1894-1963 (Leicester: Leicester University Press).
Zuckerman, A. & West, D. (1985) The Political Bases of Citizen Contracting, American Political Science Review, 79(1), pp. 117–131.</span></p>
Published
2015-07-31
Issue
Section
Conference Paper (Annual Conference 2020)
