Political Alienation and Council Amalgamations: the Effect of Municipality Size on Levels of Political Efficacy and Political Participation
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Political Alienation and Council Amalgamations: The Effect of Municipality Size on Levels of Political Efficacy and Political Participation Joshua Graham McDonnell MDip&Trade, Monash University, 2015 MPPM, Monash University, 2012 BUrbRgnlPlan(Hons), University of South Australia, 2007 This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia School of Social Sciences (Political Science and International Relations) 2021 ii Thesis declaration I, Joshua McDonnell, certify that: This thesis has been substantially accomplished during enrolment in this degree. This thesis does not contain material which has been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution. In the future, no part of this thesis will be used in a submission in my name, for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of The University of Western Australia and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint-award of this degree. This thesis does not contain any material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text and, where relevant, in the Authorship Declaration that follows. This thesis does not violate or infringe any copyright, trademark, patent, or other rights whatsoever of any person. The research involving human data reported in this thesis was assessed and approved by The University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee. Approval #: RA/4/20/4052. This thesis contains only sole-authored work, some of which has been published and/or prepared for publication under sole authorship. Signature: Date: 15 January 2021 iii iv Abstract In Australia, as in many other liberal-democratic states, citizens are said to be growing ever more alienated from politics and the democratic process. If democratic values remain (for now) intact, satisfaction with, and trust in, the personnel, the procedures and the products of politics is slipping. An extensive literature has been dedicated to diagnosing these trends, with a host of plausible explanations offered. Concerned with the way in which institutions shape political attitudes and behaviours, this study concentrates on one, almost wholly overlooked explanation for political alienation: local government amalgamation and the growth in municipality population size. Local government has long been seen as a training ground for democracy. Its human scale means that citizens can contribute effectively and meaningfully to decisions that affect their lives. However, as a result of state government-led programmes of forced amalgamation, implemented in successive and intensive fashion over the past three decades, the number of municipalities across Australia has fallen by a third, while the average municipality population size has more than doubled. While the economic implications of this intensive period of municipal amalgamation have been extensively studied in an Australian context, the democratic consequences have been comparatively under-researched. Given that amalgamation, being state governments’ preferred lever of structural reform, lingers as an ever-present spectre over Australia’s local government sectors, this gap in our empirical understanding has important practical implications. Responding to this problem, this study seeks to answer the question: are citizens of smaller municipalities less politically alienated than citizens of larger municipalities? Examining the connection between political alienation and council amalgamations, this study analyses the relationship between municipality population size, citizens’ sense of political efficacy (i.e., their sense that engaging in the political process is worthwhile) and levels of engagement in four quintessentially local forms of political participation – voting, candidacy, contacting local representatives, and council meeting attendance. To answer the research question, the study draws upon a survey of over 500 citizens of metropolitan Adelaide and Perth, in combination with electoral data, and employs advanced statistical techniques – in particular multilevel regression and mediation analysis – to discern and quantify the effect of municipality size on these key democratic indicators. With the study finding that citizens of larger municipalities are indeed more politically alienated, both in terms of their sense of their own capability of participating effectively (internal political efficacy) and in terms of their predilection to actually participate, the v study makes an important empirical contribution to the amalgamation debate here in Australia and internationally. The question of size and alienation, moreover, is just as much a normative one as it is empirical. Beyond the study’s substantive findings, this thesis also offers a much-needed discussion of the normative role for local government and local democracy with the Australian state. The movement towards fewer and larger municipal units has been impelled by an instrumental conception of local government, which both emphasises its service delivery function and minimalises the centrality of citizen participation in the democratic process. Drawing on the theory of participatory democracy, this thesis outlines not only the normative value of widespread citizen participation in a democratic polity, but also the potentiality of (small) local government as a forum for fostering such a participatory culture. vi Acknowledgements A very sincere thank you to my supervisors, Dr Kelly Gerard and Associate Professor Jeannette Taylor. Thank you for believing in me from beginning to end, from proposal to submission. Your unfaltering support and direction enabled me to push the boundaries of my knowledge and to achieve an outcome that has exceeded even my own expectations. Thank you for your prompt, detailed and constructive feedback on chapter drafts, and for the advice and structure offered through our regular (in person and virtual) meetings. Your generosity of time, intellect and spirit will not be forgotten. Thank you also to the academic staff of the UWA Centre for Applied Statistics for the generous advice and suggestions offered over the course of my candidature, and to the staff of the Graduate Research School for your administrative support. Thank you, not least, to the over 600 people who graciously volunteered their time and energy to participate in the pilot and field surveys – this project could not have succeeded without your involvement. My four years of PhD candidature has been marked by several milestones – submission certainly being one. However, two personal milestones also stand out: my marriage to Carla, and the birth of our child, Caius. My deepest, heartfelt thank you to Carla for your unending support, perseverance, and love, through the emotional highs and lows of the research. And to Caius, the delightful and determined: seeing the world through your eyes, afresh and with such wonder; the trials of PhD candidature fade to insignificance. Finally, I wish to acknowledge, gratefully, that this research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship and a University of Western Australia Safety Net Top-Up Scholarship. vii viii Authorship Declaration This thesis contains the following sole-authored work that has been published. Details of the work: McDonnell, Joshua. 2020. “Municipality Size, Political Efficacy and Political Participation: A Systematic Review.” Local Government Studies 46 (3): 331–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2019.1600510. Location in thesis: Chapter 5 Signature: Date: 15 January 2021 ix x Contents Thesis declaration ....................................................................................................................iii Abstract ....................................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements................................................................................................................. vii Authorship Declaration.............................................................................................................ix Contents ..................................................................................................................................xi List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... xiv List of Figures.......................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 The potentiality of the local........................................................................................................3 Amalgamation and the de-localisation of local government......................................................6 The Study....................................................................................................................................6 The effects of municipality size ..............................................................................................9 Chapter structure and substantive contributions................................................................ 10 PART I. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND MUNICIPAL AMALGAMATION