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https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.48.2023.29
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Understanding Collective Agency in the Long-Term Perspective: A Historical Comparative Case Study of Local Government Associations in Germany and the United States
Wie man durch die Langfristperspektive ein Verständnis kollektiver Handlungsfähigkeit gewinnt: Eine historisch vergleichende Fallstudie kommunaler Spitzenverbände in Deutschland und den Vereinigten Staaten
[journal article]
Abstract Although local governments play a crucial role in policy implementation in modern democracies, they have no formal rights of participation in higher level politics. To bridge this gap, local government associations (LGAs) have been established in many countries in order to represent local interests ... view more
Although local governments play a crucial role in policy implementation in modern democracies, they have no formal rights of participation in higher level politics. To bridge this gap, local government associations (LGAs) have been established in many countries in order to represent local interests and to lobby higher level policy-making. Analysing LGAs as collective actors, we focus analytically on typical collective action problems they must solve. These are, first, attracting and keeping a broad membership and, second, arriving at joint decisions in spite of potential conflict of interest. Investigating the core question how LGAs gain collective agency, we argue that they need to solve those two types of collective action problems, but furthermore, country specific context factors shape the way in which they emerge and evolve. Empirically, we combine a historical reconstruction with a structured focused comparison. We analyse six LGAs in Germany and the US, going back roughly 100
years in history to reconstruct their foundational moments as well as shaping events in their development until today, structuring the narratives along the relevant categories developed in the analytic framework. The analysis reveals that indeed the collective action problems triggered largely the same mechanisms for their solution, thereby impacting in similar ways the establishment and development of LGAs in Germany and the US. Yet, persistent differences can be traced to country specific context factors, most notably the federal culture and architecture as well as specific historical events.... view less
Keywords
local politics; municipal administration; regional authority; interest group; representation of interests; political decision; decision making; political influence; network; cooperation; capacity to act; historical development; federalism; Federal Republic of Germany; United States of America
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Political System, Constitution, Government
Free Keywords
local government associations; interest representation; collective action; historical comparison; collective agency; collective actors
Document language
English
Publication Year
2023
Page/Pages
p. 153-188
Journal
Historical Social Research, 48 (2023) 3
Issue topic
The Emergence and Effects of Non-hierarchical Collective Agency
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed