Study title

Parties and Local Democracy 1996: Party Members

Dataset ID Number

FSD1022

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1022

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Borg, Sami (University of Tampere)

Abstract

In this survey Finnish voters, members of the seven largest political parties, candidates of the 1996 municipal elections, and municipal council members were compared. The party members were asked the year of becoming a member and reasons for joining. Some questions focused on the members' activity in the parties and their interest in elective offices. The respondents were presented with statements relating to municipal policy and politics in general. They were asked to assess to what extent the work of councillors is appreciated, whether they saw themselves as representatives of their background groups in their parties, and how important it was that the municipal council was representative of the municipal electorate. The present state and development needs of a number of municipal services and tasks were canvassed. The party members were also asked how municipal democracy, service production, and efficiency of decision-making could be improved. The respondents were asked who had the real power in their home municipality, how active party members they thought themselves to be, and how active their own local party association was.

Background variables included the responden'ts gender, age, occupational group, education, type of employer, and municipality of residence.

Keywords

democracy; elected officials; elections; internal politics; local government; local government services; political action; political attitudes; political participation; political parties; political power; representative democracy

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Government, political systems and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Elections (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Borg, Sami (University of Tampere)

Time Period Covered

1996

Collection Dates

1996-11-29 – 1997-01-31

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Members of the Social Democratic Party, Centre Party, National Coalition Party, Left Alliance, Swedish People's Party, the Green League, and the Christian League in 1996

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Systematic random

Systematic random sampling from the member register of each party. In the case of the Centre Party of Finland, a systematic sample from the member registers of 21 districts.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD1021 Parties and Municipal Democracy 1996: Candidates

FSD1023 Parties and Local Democracy 1996: Electors

FSD1024 Parties and Local Democracy 1996: Combined Data

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Borg, Sami (University of Tampere): Parties and Local Democracy 1996: Party Members [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2000-08-14). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1022

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Puolueet 1990-luvulla: näkökulmia suomalaiseen puoluetoimintaan (1997). Toim. Sami Borg. Turku: Turun yliopisto. Valtio-opillisia tutkimuksia; 53.

Borg, Sami & Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2002). Suuret ikäluokat ja valta. Hyvinvointikatsaus 1/2002, 51-58.

Borg, Sami (1998). Puolueet ja edustuksellinen kunnallisdemokratia: tutkimus poliittisesta edustautumisesta ja legitimiteetistä. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. Tampereen yliopisto. Kunnallistieteiden laitos. Julkaisusarja; 1/1998.

Borg, Sami (2008). Kansalaisten jäsenyys ja toiminta puolueissa. Teoksessa: Suomen puolueet ja puoluejärjestelmä (toim. Paloheimo, Heikki & Raunio, Tapio), 85-107. Porvoo-Helsinki: WSOY Oppimateriaalit.