ABSTRACT
Councils of the municipal as well as of the second level of local government have traditionally been seen as representative bodies, i.e. a core institution of a particular understanding of democracy, namely representative or liberal democracy. This chapter compares the results of the analysis of second-tier councillors with results of the analysis of municipal councillors. It also explores how the findings on the understanding of democracy are linked to personal characteristics which can be related to basic beliefs and subjective norms of a person. The chapter then examines whether second-tier councillors' understanding of democracy is linked to the formal horizontal power relations between councilors. Finally, it analyzes role perception, role behaviour and attitudes towards reforms at the local level of councillors to examine whether or not councillors' notions of democracy can be related to their role perception, role behaviour and attitudes towards reforms as dependent variables.
