The Local Party Branch and the Council Party Group: Who Governs?

Abstract The relationship between the local party branch organisation and local councillors has been left largely unexplored in the party literature. We explore how this relationship varies within the case of Norway – a multi‐party system with large variation in municipal size. Based on a survey of leaders of municipal party branches and local lists, as well as qualitative interviews with branch and list leaders, we analyse the causes of variation regarding two dependent variables: the degree of integration between the party branch and council group and the involvement of party branches in council work. The overall picture is that work in branches and council groups is strongly integrated. However, local branches of left‐of‐centre parties are likely to be more involved in council work and less likely to be fully integrated with their council groups. The left‐of‐centre tradition of giving more power to extra‐parliamentary organisation seems to prevail.