Tending the Grassroots: How Local Institutions Impact National Elections

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Abstract
Do local political institutions impact the balance of power in national politics? If so, how? This paper argues that certain political institutions, like local elections, empower local party branches, leading to better electoral support in national-level elections. To test this theory, I take advantage of a quasi-experimental local governance arrangement in early 20th-century Sweden that made local institutions dependent on a population threshold. I find that municipalities that use elections display markedly different support for the major parties in national elections compared to municipalities using a more traditional community meeting. Parties that have members as a central component of their strategy receive higher support in areas with local partisan elections. Moreover, this is a pattern that is especially pronounced in places with a strong local activist base. The result demonstrates that local-level political institutions can significantly impact national-level politics with consequences for institutional reform outcomes and citizen welfare.

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