Kunskap och demokrati i EU-kommuner

Abstract

Do municipalities in EU member states possess different characteristics, and a different room for manoeuvre, than municipalities in non-EU member states? And is a lack of knowledge about this posing a democratic challenge for EU municipalities? This article explores these two questions first by proposing a framework for how to characterize EU municipalities and by discussing how a lack of knowledge (both among locally elected politicians and the local electorate) about the particularities of EU municipalities leads to a suboptimal use of the political room for manoeuvre and leaves the voters without possibilities to influence EU-related local political decisions.