Social learning in the city hall: obstacles and solutions to make the most of municipal councils in Brussels
(2024) Brussels Studies — Vol. 196, n° 1, p. 1-13 (2024)
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- What are the conditions of social learning within municipal councils? While public distrust toward representative democracy has fostered participatory approaches to politics and policies, we turn the spotlight back on deliberations between municipal councilors in Brussels. Social learning is a cognitive and social dynamic that facilitates the development of shared understandings, consensus, and decisions. A multimethod design involving interviews with general directors and council presidents, as well as focus groups with the leaders of political groups, was implemented. First, we find that councilors are not equal vis-à-vis social learning in terms of their motivation, age, language skills, as well as political and legal experience. Second, the conditions of cordiality and trust among councilors, which are decisive for social learning, are not always met. Third, a political game closer to rivalry and conflict rather than collaboration impedes information exchange among councilors. Their freedom to reflect on politics and policies is limited by group pressure. To conclude, we speculate about solutions to overcome these barriers to social learning in municipal councils.
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Alomar, M. A., Carlier, N., & Moyson, S. (2024). Social learning in the city hall: obstacles and solutions to make the most of municipal councils in Brussels. Brussels Studies, 196(1), 1-13. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/233421 (Original work published 2024)