Representation and inequality in local politics

地方政治对当地公众的生活质量有着深远的影响，尤其是由于有关城市发展的决定。在这种背景下，了解地方政策选择反映了谁的利益至关重要。基于这一命题，该项目研究了德国城市代表的模式和决定因素。根据城市是由社会结构同质的地区组成的概念，城市人口的代表性相当于社会阶层的代表性。因此，该项目旨在了解地方政治中考虑了哪些利益，是否存在显著的差异，如果存在，哪些因素可以解释这些差异。为了调查地方代表的模式，该项目使用自动和手动文本分析对德国13个州的75个主要城市的数据进行了研究。具体而言，该项目考虑了地方代表性的三个方面。首先，通过分析全体会议协议，我们研究了地方政治代表性的系统维度。其次，我们认为地方代表性的党派层面与地方政党宣言和联盟协议的分析。第三，通过对地方议会议员的提问和询问进行评估，对个人代表性进行调查。通过对德国市议会代表性模式的研究，本项目追求三个目标。描述性项目的目标是系统地描述地方政治中的代表模式。分析项目的目标是解释地方代表性的差异。这需要将观察到的模式与当地投票率，当地选举行为，当地选举法和当地政党竞争的特点相关联。规范性项目的目标是综合项目结果，以期了解地方选举法的影响，为地方政治机构的未来改革提出建议。具体而言，规定性的项目目标询问哪些机构和政治背景最有可能不确定地方政治代表的平等。

Local politics has far-reaching consequences for the quality of life of local publics, not least due to decisions about urban development. Against this backdrop, it is crucial to understand whose interests are reflected in local policy choices. Based on this proposition, the project investigates the patterns and determinants of representation in German cities. Building on the notion that cities are made up of sociostructurally homogeneous quarters, representation of the city population is equivalent to the representation of social strata. Consequently, the project aims to understand which interests are taken into consideration in local politics, whether there are notable disparities, and, if so, which factors can explain them.To investigate the patterns of local representation, the project studies data from 75 major cities in 13 German Länder with automatic and manual text analysis. Specifically, the project considers three dimensions of local representation. First, by analyzing plenary protocols, we study the systemic dimensions of local political representation. Second, we consider the partisan dimension of local representation with an analysis of local party manifestos and coalition agreements. Third, we investigate individual representation by evaluating the questions and inquiries by members of the local assemblies.With the study of representation patterns in German city councils, the project pursues three goals. The descriptive project goal is to systematically describe patterns of representation in local politics. The analytical project goal is to explain disparities in local representation. This entails associating the observed patterns with local turnout, local electoral behavior, local electoral law, and the characteristics of local party competition. The prescriptive project goal is to synthesize the project results with a view toward the effects of the local electoral laws to make recommendations for future reforms of the local political institutions. Specifically, the prescriptive project goal asks which institutions and political contexts are most likely to unsure equality in local political representation.