Local democracy as local autonomy

CAARD TAU
לפני 4 ימים
זמן קריאה 2 דקות

Yishai Blank , Issi Rosen Zvi and Dan Largman

Published/Copyright: February 21, 2026

Abstract

The dominant conceptualization of democracy is nation-centric: it prioritizes national elections over other forms of public participation in decision-making, emphasizes a strong system of institutional checks and balances and separation of powers as key indicators of a healthy democracy, and embeds national democratic institutions into a robust liberal framework. From this perspective, local democratic institutions are viewed merely as miniature versions of national democracy, expected to operate according to the same principles. In contrast, we argue that local democratic institutions embody an alternative conception of democracy. Our conception of local democracy is grounded in the principle of local autonomy, understood as the capacity of local institutions to engage in collective self-government, which lies at the core of democracy at the local level. This alternative framework entails three main implications: first, assessing the democratic character of local institutions requires metrics distinct from those developed for the national scale. Second, local resistance to national policies, as well as local policies that tend to needs and interests left unanswered by national institutions, should be recognized as expressive of democracy. Third, at the local level, the boundaries of the liberal framework are themselves subject to deliberation and contestation, thereby complicating the relationship between democracy and liberalism.

^* Dean and Professor of Law, The Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University; Professor of Law and Director, the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, The Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University; PhD candidate at the Zvi Meitar Center for Advanced Legal Studies, The Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University. The authors wish to express their gratitude to Helena Alviar García, Ofra Bloch, Cora Chan, Natalie Davidson, Rick Hills, Sam Issachroff, Roy Kreitner, Doreen Lustig, Remy Manoach, Rick Pildes and the participants of the Liberal/ Democracy Conference, Sciences Po Law School, Paris, June 2024, for their insightful comments. The authors also wish to thank Ran Sagiv for his research assistance and the Center for Applied Research Risks to Democracy for its generous research grant.

Published Online: 2026-02-21

Published in Print: 2025-09-25