1. The impact of local associational life on citizens’ attitudes towards local government Jacob Aars & Dag Arne Christensen

2. Putnam’s study of civic traditions in Italian regions (1993) “Conditions for creating strong, responsive, effective representative institutions” The vibrancy of associational life affects institutional performance: The more associations within a community, the more responsive and effective government

3. A contextual argument Context matters? Vibrancy of associational life: Contextual or compositional explanation

4. A multilevel analysis The argument for individual-level dependent variables The effects of institutional performance feeds back into the political system only through citizens’ perceptions Creates demands/support

5. Three dependent variables Effectiveness: Councillors’ knowledge about local issues Effectiveness: Councillors’ ability to solve problems Responsiveness: Councillors willingsness to listen to citizens’ views

6. Data Individual level Largest ever Norwegian survey of citizen attitudes towards public services and the political system 12.659 respondents Municipal level The Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities (Brønnøysund Register Centre) Municipal-level data from the Regional Database, Norwegian Social Science Databases

7. Results