Independent Local Lists between Challenger and Mainstream Actors in Local Politics

• Applicants: Privatdozent Dr. Martin Gross, since 5/2024; Dr. Christina-Marie Juen
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 534908387

This project analyzes the influence of Independent Local Lists (ILL) on party competition, coalition formation and political representation in German municipalities. While ILL have become important non-partisan actors in local elections, limited knowledge exists with regard to their ideological positions and their elites’ attitudes towards democratic representation. The aim of this project is twofold. On the one hand, we aim to shed light on the ideological profiles of ILL and their impact on party competition. We are interested if and to what extent ILL really emphasize local issues more than other political actors, and if ILL pose a challenge for established parties beyond local issues. Additionally, we focus on how ILL affect coalition formations in municipalities. On the other hand, we seek to understand the preferences of ILL elites regarding political representation, which are expected to differ from other party elites due to their non-partisan affiliation. By examining these aspects, the study provides novel insights into the policy profiles and representation preferences by relevant actors on the local level. To shed light on these aspects we will collect data on the party level as well as on the elite level. The data will be collected in the context of the upcoming German local elections in eight states in spring 2024. Methodologically, we will rely on automated text analysis, utilizing semi-supervised and unsupervised techniques to estimate policy positions of ILL. Further, we will conduct a large-scale online survey to analyze the attitudes of ILL elites.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. Michael Jankowski, until 4/2024