NORSK STATSVITENSKAPELIG TIDSSKRIFT VOL 22 22–45 © UNIVERSITETSFORLAGET 2006 22 Kommunesammenslåingers politiske økonomi: En analyse av velgeratferd i rådgivende folkeavstemninger 1 Åge Johnsen aage.johnsen@oks.hio.no Jan Erling Klausen jan.e.klausen@nibr.no The political economy of municipal amalgamations in Norway: An analysis of voting behaviour in consultative referendums In the current debate on municipal amalgamations, two perspectives have been predomi- nant. The arguments of proponents of the economic perspective have focused on the potential economic gains associated with a reduction in the number of municipalities. Proponents of a traditional ‘local democracy’ perspective have generally opposed amal- gamations, usually on the assumption that qualities such as democratic vitality and polit- ical participation will be jeopardized. This article proposes a third perspective; namely, the resource dependence perspective, in which the municipality is seen as a collection of resources. Various actors inside the organisation or in its environment would seek to uti- lise these resources to their own advantage. Accordingly, attitudes towards municipal amalgamations would depend on the individual voter’s assessment of how a proposed amalgamation would affect his/her interests. The article analyses 17 proposed amalgam- ations encompassing 51 municipalities in the period 1990–2004, during which some or all of the municipalities involved conducted consultative referendums. In addition, data from a citizen’s survey in eight municipalities are analysed. The results indicate that the resource dependence perspective better describes the attitudes to municipal amalgam- ations than the two perspectives that have so far been predominant in the debate. Keywords: local government • referendum • democracy • participation