LOCAL POLITICAL RECRUITMENT IN CRISIS - A COMPARISON OF FINLAND AND NORWAY

Beginning with the assumed problem of high turnover among local counci lors in Norway, the article compares local political recruitment proce sses in Finland and Norway. Turnover in Norwegian local councils has p roven surprisingly stable at 60-65 percent for a series of elections, whereas it has been significantly lower at 35-45 percent in the other Nordic countries, including Finland. Turnover among Norwegian councilo rs is mainly due to voluntary retirement. According to theories of pol itical recruitment and representation, lack of motivation among candid ates poses a threat to the democratic quality of political systems, be cause it undermines the voters' ability to exercise democratic control over politicians. The authors argue that rotation in office need not constitute a democratic problem. On the contrary, empirical evidence i s presented to show that participation in political council work may i n itself have a politically activating effect on the participants. Ver y few candidacies can be described in terms of political ambition. Ins tead, motivation is often created and cultivated through participation . Furthermore, rotation in office may lead to the diffusion of politic al competence and may therefore constitute an alternative source of de mocratic control.