RoC - Return of the Councillors
I served as the coordinator of the Italian team.
The 2022-2025 RoC project focused on the activities and perceptions of municipal councillors in almost 30 European countries.
Councillors are the essence of local representative democracy, linking ordinary citizens and decision-makers in municipal arenas.
In a cross-national perspective, the research aims to analyze the recruitment patterns, careers, party associations, role perceptions, and attitudes to democracy, representation, and participation of local councillors.
Data were collected through an international survey addressed to all municipal councillors in nearly 30 countries' municipalities.
The project is conducted by the LocGov Research Network, a European network, which, over the last few decades, has conducted comparative research on the attitudes and behavior of key actors in and around local government, such as chief executives, mayors, councillors, and local state-society relations, in 30 countries in comparative perspective (e.g., The European Mayor; Political Leaders and Changing Local Democracy; Local Councilors).
The RoC network is updating their previous work on local councillors, published by Palgrave.
The final meeting of the RoC project has been held in Sarajevo in May 2025.
Scientific publications linked to this project:
BOOK CHAPTERS
S. Bolgherini, S. Kalberer, M. Ponzo (2026) Corruption in European Municipalities: the view of local councillors in Verhelst T., Lysek J., Heinelt H., Egner B. (eds), Municipal Councillors in Europe, Volume II, Palgrave, pp. 177-206, ISBN 978-3-032-15559-7, doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-15560-3_8
S. Bolgherini, M. Gnaldi, M. Ponzo (2024) Tra corruzione e istituzioni: qualità della democrazia e vulnerabilità istituzionale in trent’anni di Seconda Repubblica, in Curti S. (a cura di) Da Milano a Genova. Corrotti e corruttori da Tangentopoli a oggi, Bologna, Il Mulino (EN: Between corruption and institutions: quality of democracy and institutional vulnerability in 30 years of ‚Second Republic‘), pp. 145-171, ISBN 978-88-15-39108-7
