Local democracy in Norway, 2001

It has been a trend in Europe over the last years to transfer additional and more comprehensive tasks in the public sector for services from public to local authorities. This has in several cases led to increasingly large local authorities.This has been functionally reasoned on a basis of increased demands for capacity and service activeties. The focus on quality of democracy has tended to be ignored in the process. The survey is based on this paradox. More specifically, how the size of administrative units (municipalities) affects political participation and political representation. The size is in this case based upon population. The survey also tries to map out how satisfied people are with the local authorities and the public services in the municipalities, and which circumstances may affect such satisfaction. The survey is a part of an international project and similar surveys have been carried through in Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Great Britain.