Resumo

RUILOBA NUNEZ, Juana María. Is Local Government a New Arena for Citizen Participation? The Mayors' Point of View in the Spanish Case. Estud. Polit. [online]. 2014, n.44, pp.55-77. ISSN 0121-5167.

This article shares the conviction that local democracy requires citizen participation to succeed in difficult times, resulting in new ways to involve citizens in public decision processes and policy implementation. In order to have a deeper understanding of the complex interactions between politicians, administrators, interest groups and citizens, it is necessary to pay attention to the behavior of decision makers. Mayors are obviously very willing to support public policies aimed at promoting participation, however, in everyday life, decisions are guided mainly by legal principles. Based on data provided by an ad hoc survey applied in 2007 to the mayors of Spanish cities with over 10,000 inhabitants, this article shows how the Mayors' decisions have a significant impact on the development of new forms of local governance.

Palavras-chave : Mayors; Local Government; Citizen Participation; Political Decision-Making.

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