Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
Title
The Paradox of a Town Meeting: The Influence of Forms of Local Government on Citizen Representation
Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
AccessType
Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Political Science
Year Degree Awarded
2018
Month Degree Awarded
September
First Advisor
Raymond J. La Raja
Second Advisor
Brian Schaffner
Third Advisor
Matt Streb
Subject Categories
American Politics
Abstract
When the federal government fails to provide guidance, or takes positions citizens disagree with, the importance of having strong, responsive local political institutions increases. As a result of either longstanding tradition or political reforms, a number of subnational political institutions now include elements of participatory and direct democracy in an effort to cure perceived democratic deficits. In my research, which uses a comparison of traditional, New England (representative) town meetings to city councils, I address the question of how the choice between using large, participation-oriented representative institutions and smaller legislative assemblies affects citizen participation and representation in local politics. My findings demonstrate that though the motives to include elements of direct and participatory democracy in local institutions may be pure and intuitive, communities that use these elements and have large legislative assemblies may in fact impose greater barriers on citizens, resulting in lower and more biased electoral turnout and representation than in comparable communities that use more conventional, smaller legislative bodies.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/12681204
Recommended Citation
van Erve, Wouter Marc, "The Paradox of a Town Meeting: The Influence of Forms of Local Government on Citizen Representation" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations. 1407.
https://doi.org/10.7275/12681204
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1407