Local autonomy: unconditional elites and conditional publics

This paper investigates elite and mass attitudes towards local autonomy. Using surveys of more than 1,200 elected municipal politicians and 5,800 citizens in Canada, we ask three questions: Do citizens agree with their elected representatives about the need for increased power for local authorities? Are predictors of support for expanded local power similar among elites and the public? Finally, do elected politicians understand their constituents’ attitudes on local autonomy? We find that elites and citizens differ substantially in their attitudes towards local autonomy: politicians overwhelmingly support increased power for local governments, while citizens’ preferences are conditional on their support for the current provincial government, level of education, and ideological alignment with their local community. Moreover, politicians display no knowledge of citizens’ preferences regarding local autonomy. We explain the implications of our findings for theoretical debates about citizen support for local autonomy and for practical debates regarding the empowerment of local governments.