Local governments are under increasing pressure to effectively represent various political interests within communities. This study attempts to measure and explain city council member perceptions of local government representational effectiveness for a sample of communities in New York state. The authors hypothesize that variables from seven categories are related to representational effectiveness. Using survey methodology and regression techniques, the authors find, for example, that female council members rate their local governments lower in representational effectiveness than their male counterparts, and also that council members perceive a strong relationship between program/service delivery and representational effectiveness.
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