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Over the past couple of decades, the level of turnout in Norwegian local elections has shown a steady d. This decline is paralleled by a greater range of variation in turnout across Norwegian municipalities. Arguing from the perspective of rational utility‐maximizing voters, the article examines to what extent such variations in the level of turnout may be accounted for by the policy performance of local authorities – in addition to certain structural features of the municipalities and local communities. Using aggregate data on turnout and measures of policy performance. the analysis testifies to the suggestion that policy exerts an influence in determining the level of turnout, indicating a turn in the direction of more rational voting behaviour as far as local elections arc concerned. It is also evident from the analysis that the appearance of smaller single‐issue parties does have a mobilizing effect in local elections while the Downsian suggestion about the effect of party competition on turnout levels is not supported by the mule of the analysis.

ABSTRACTThe article examines how and to what extent municipal finances are affected by a city's position in an urban hierarchy. A distinction is made between collective and individual services on the one hand, and job‐ and residence‐related services on the other. It is hypothesized that job‐related collective services are more affected by a city's centrality than other services, and that residence‐related individual services are least affected. By and large, the results of the analyses lend support to this hypothesis, although they are inconclusive as to the difference between job‐ and residence‐related collective services. Altogether, the analysis demonstrates the importance of taking a city's centrality into consideration when assessing its financial problems.

ABSTRACT THE ARTICLE EXAMINES HOW AND TO WHAT EXTENT MUNICIPAL FINANCES ARE AFFECTED BY A CITY'S POSITION IN AN URBAN HIERARCHY. A DISTINCTION IS MADE BETWEEN COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL SERVICES ON THE ONE HAND, AND JOB- AND RESIDENCE-RELATED SERVICES ON THE OTHER. IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT JOB-RELATED COLLECTIVE SERVICES ARE MORE AFFECTED BY A CITY'S CENTRALITY THAN OTHER SERVICES, AND THAT RESIDENCE-RELATED INDIVIDUAL SERVICES ARE LEAST AFFECTED. BY AND LARGE, THE RESULTS OF THE ANALYSES LEND SUPPORT TO THIS HYPOTHESIS, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE INCONCLUSIVE AS TO THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JOB- AND RESIDENCE-RELATED COLLECTIVE SERVICES. ALTOGETHER, THE ANALYSIS DEMONSTRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING A CITY'S CENTRALITY INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN ASSESSING ITS FINANCIAL PROBLEMS.

The aim of this article is to assess the political conditions for an efficient local planning, giving first an outline of the current planning system in Norway and turning then to the relationship between planning and local politics. The perceptions and attitudes of local concillors in relation to planning are presented on the basis of data from a questionnaire survey, which included about 400 local councillors in 16 Norwegian municipalities. The data suggest that a substantial majority of the councillors regard planning as an important policy-making activity. It is argued that in spite of the lack of success of local planning in terms of approved plans, it has been successful in encouraging local political debate and thereby contributed to the general decision-making process.

Despite the increasing awareness among students of urban and local policy-making of the importance of central controls and regulations in shaping local policies, empirical research in this area still tends to treat local authorities as if they were more or less isolated, self-sufficient decision-making units. Attention has largely been confined to what David Easton calls the intrasocietal part of the system's environment in searching for determinants of local decision-making behaviour, while extrasocietal forces – factors outside the geographical boundaries of the local system – have been treated only marginally or neglected altogether. The growing concern about the increased interdependencies between national and local authorities and – assumedly – the decreased autonomy of local government, has so far only led to rather general comments on the nature of these relationships in the empirical literature on urban policy-making.
This lack of concern about the wider political context within which the local government operates may be due to the fact that most empirical studies of local policy-making have been limited to local units within one country.

The property taxation is perhaps the most controversial policy issue in Norwegian local authorities. Municipalities enjoy autonomy to decide whether or not to introduce property taxation. However, national legislation sets limits on property tax rates. The conflict over the property taxation follows the traditional left-right ideological division. This study analyses whether the introduction of property taxation in individual municipalities leads to political repercussions for the pro-tax parties in terms of weakened voter support. By using the data from the 2003 and 2007 local elections, the analysis reveals that, contrary to our expectations, the support for the left-wing parties is stronger in the municipalities that have introduced such taxes than in other municipalities. There are no signs that the pro-tax parties are being punished by the voters. To the extent that there are any such negative repercussions, it seems that the right-wing anti-tax parties suffer vote losses, but these losses are moderate.

KEYWORDS: • local politics • property taxation • economic voting • ideological conflicts

The property taxation is perhaps the most controversial policy issue in Norwegian local authorities. Municipalities enjoy autonomy to decide whether or not to introduce property taxation. However, national legislation sets limits on property tax rates. The conflict over the property taxation follows the traditional left-right ideological division. This study analyses whether the introduction of property taxation in individual municipalities leads to political repercussions for the pro-tax parties in terms of weakened voter support. By using the data from the 2003 and 2007 local elections, the analysis reveals that, contrary to our expectations, the support for the left-wing parties is stronger in the municipalities that have introduced such taxes than in other municipalities. There are no signs that the pro-tax parties are being punished by the voters. To the extent that there are any such negative repercussions, it seems that the right-wing anti-tax parties suffer vote losses, but these losses are moderate. Adapted from the source document.

The study reported in this article compares local political activity of voluntary organizations in a Norwegian and an English city — Tromsø and Birmingham. The two cities display rather striking structural similarities with respect to the relative number of organizations as well as to organizational membership. The relative distribution of major types of organizations is also rather similar, although there is a greater degree of organizational specialization in the English city.With respect to political activity of the organizations the two cities are, however, quite different. While two thirds of the organizations in Tromsø have been active in local political matters, this holds true for less than 30 per cent of the organizations in Birmingham.This difference is attributed to the finding that in the Norwegian case local government assists organizations with goods and services, while in the English case organizations have to depend on their own internal resources. An additional factor is that Norwegian organizations, when compared to their English counterparts, have greater access to political decision‐making bodies.