The dynamics of democratic learning

Abstract

In the first chapter, we observed that the reforms in European local democracies are remarkable for their similarities, despite significant differences in historic development, structure and cultural in European countries. This isomorphism is illustrated in several recent studies, both in country-by-country comparative studies (among others Loughlin (ed.) 1999; Caulfield and Larsen (eds.) 2002; Denters and Rose (eds.) 2005) and in thematic ones (Bäck, Heinelt and Magnier (eds.) 2006; Berg and Rao (eds.) 2005); Bäck, Gjelstrup, Helgesen, Johansson and Klausen (eds.) 2005).