Between Representation and Administration. The Role of Local Councillors in Belgian Local Governance

The combination of general evolutions in local government and specifics of the Belgian context places local councillors in Belgium increasingly under pressure. It is often assumed that they feel compelled between their role as representative and administrator and risk to lose their democratic legitimacy. This paper outlines the ideal-formal role attitude and the concrete role behaviour of Belgian local councillors, and seeks to verify the underlying causes and processes on the base of a survey amongst the councillors. We distinguish thereby predictors at the macro-, meso- and micro-level of local politics. Whilst the councillors generally prove to relate more to their representation role (but support their administration role as well), a substantial discrepancy between this theoretic role attitude and the practical role behaviour emerges. Belgian local councillors contribute far less to representation and (especially) administration in political practice. The main explanation is located at the meso-level: the strong influence of political parties (majority logic) and the executive Court of Mayor and Aldermen (mandate) predicts the role behaviour of Belgian local councillors in practice, overwriting the administration-representation debate with a strong political ink