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The purpose of this study is to test referendums' revitalizing effect on the local democracy. To test this hypothesis, the study compares eight municipalities. Four of these have had a referendum and four have not. The study uses two different timelines to see if the reform about initiative from the citizens have had an impact on the participation of the local democracy. With this approach, the selection of the municipalities will be evenly distributed before and after 2011. The study uses Robert D. Putnam theory about citizens and its participation and therefore how to measure it (2018) and Robert A. Dahl and his theory about society's size and what it means to the local democracy (1989). The study uses five different indicators to test the hypothesis and to answer the questions that the study puts forward to categories the indicators. The method is Most Similar System Design (MSSD) and its purpose explains how similar units differ in some aspects. The result shows that those who have used a referendum have a better density with associations but have no different result when it comes to the political voting in the elections to the municipal council.

<p>The aim of this inquiry is to investigate which ideals of democracy that three proposals for strengtening the democracy in the European Union consists of and to judge if the desired effects of the proposals are reachable. The method that is used is an analysis of ideas and contents. Theories that are used are deliberative and particiapatory ideals of democracy. The theories are used to investigate if the ideas in the proposals correspond to the ideals of deliberative and participatory democracy. The major result is that the proposals fail to fulfil the ideas of the theories. The reason is that the proposals are lacking ideas of how to make the citizens more aware and active in politics. The point of departure in the proposals is that the European Union will be more democratic if the people are brought in to the politics, but they do not suggest how people should form opinions through communication and become conscious and competent in political issues through participation. It is also likely that the effects of the proposals not are reachable to all the citizens. Only the ones who have an interest in communicating and participating in European politics will be gained by the proposals.</p>

The aim of this inquiry is to investigate which ideals of democracy that three proposals for strengtening the democracy in the European Union consists of and to judge if the desired effects of the proposals are reachable. The method that is used is an analysis of ideas and contents. Theories that are used are deliberative and particiapatory ideals of democracy. The theories are used to investigate if the ideas in the proposals correspond to the ideals of deliberative and participatory democracy. The major result is that the proposals fail to fulfil the ideas of the theories. The reason is that the proposals are lacking ideas of how to make the citizens more aware and active in politics. The point of departure in the proposals is that the European Union will be more democratic if the people are brought in to the politics, but they do not suggest how people should form opinions through communication and become conscious and competent in political issues through participation. It is also likely that the effects of the proposals not are reachable to all the citizens. Only the ones who have an interest in communicating and participating in European politics will be gained by the proposals.

In recent years, the number of local referendums in Sweden has increased. Referendumsallow citizens to influence specific political issues directly, and the instrument is advisory todecision-makers. At the same time, referendums have become a complex issue in manySwedish municipalities. They pose a fundamental challenge to local democracy - to deal withtwo legitimate popular wills representing two different ideals of democracy. However, there is little empirical evidence on how municipal politicians deal with thischallenge in local decision-making. This study aims to examine how we can understand therole of referendums in this context. In order to do so, the study focuses on referendums in thefield of infrastructure in two municipalities, the sale of the municipally-owned energycompany Öresundskraft in Helsingborg and decommissioning of Västerås airport in Västerås.Empirical evidence was compiled from mainly public documents in order to perform aqualitative content analysis; interviews were also conducted with a total of ten municipalpoliticians to reinforce the findings of the processes. The study utilizes a general frameworkwith theoretical ideas on governance, policy analysis and direct democracy to deepen ourunderstanding of these processes. The results of the study show that in both cases, the respective referendum has been given adecisive role. The municipal politicians seem to have chosen to stop the politicalproposal/decision after the referendum's result based on turnout and the clear result that thecitizens did not want to sell/decommission. Furthermore, the results also illustrate that allmunicipal politicians, in general, think it is important to involve citizens but in differentways. Some politicians had a more positive view of the instrument and some much less so inthe two cases. They underline that a referendum may be more or less appropriate in certainissues or circumstances. At the same time, the majority maintain the idea of referendums as acomplement to representative democracy. The study also shows how different interests fromdifferent societal actors can come into play in a referendum on infrastructure that does notonly relate to the local and municipal sphere. The study was delimited to referendums oninfrastructure in two large municipalities; therefore, it cannot bridge the much-neededresearch gaps that further research can address.