Democracy, leadership and policy in the Danish counties - politician survey, 1997

The often heated debate on the counties is often characterized by a lack of knowledge of the counties’ economic and democratic functions. The purpose of this study is to describe the democracy in and the administration of the counties by focusing on five aspects of the counties: - Counties, citizens and democracy. - Counties and political parties. - Reorganization of the counties. - Counties and the administrative management. - Counties and political management. The study was conducted between 1997 and 1999 by assistant professors Niels Ejersbo and Roger Buch Jensen. This part of the study is based on a questionnaire survey distributed among all county council members. Furthermore three questionnaires were designed for the council officials. The questionnaires were distributed according to seniority: The directors of the county councils filled out one questionnaire while the directors of citizens services and the mid-level managers filled out other questionnaires.