Jo Saglie

Research Professor

Research topics: elections, democracy

Mobile phone:: +47 991 62 131
Email:: jo.saglie@samfunnsforskning.no

Press photo

Political scientist working on local democracy, Indigenous politics and political parties

Jo Saglie is a political scientist with a doctoral degree from the University of Oslo (2000). He has worked at the Institute for Social Research since 1999, and has also been an adjunct researcher at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Kautokeino.

Saglie works both qualitatively and quantitatively, in particular within three research fields. Firstly, local elections and local democracy, including political participation in and between elections. Secondly, the Sámi Parliament in Norway, Sámi parliamentary elections and the political representation of Indigenous peoples in a comparative perspective. Thirdly, political parties and their organisations, local branches and members.

Saglie has been the Director of both the Norwegian Local Election Studies and the Norwegian Sámi Election Studies through a number of elections. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Norwegian Panel of Politicians at KODEM, University of Bergen.

Projects

Belschner, Jana Birke; Aars, Jacob & Saglie, Jo (2026). Does Enfranchisement Increase Descriptive Representation? The Case of Voting Age Reforms. Political Behavior. doi: 10.1007/s11109-026-10142-x. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Do enfranchisement reforms change the demographic composition of elected bodies? While previous research has demonstrated positive effects of suffrage extensions on political participation and the substantive representation of group interests, effects on descriptive representation remain understudied. Focusing on voting age reforms, we hypothesize that lowering the voting age to 16 increases the shares of selected and elected young candidates via changes in party and voter behavior. Drawing on evidence from two Norwegian voting age trials and a difference-in-differences design, we show that municipalities with a lowered voting age saw significantly more young candidates elected. This was driven by changes in voter behavior: While parties did not select or prioritize more young candidates, voters supported them with higher shares of preference votes. Exploring mechanisms, we find tentative evidence that treatment effects depended on voters who were not directly affected by the reform. Also, effects appear to slightly weaken in the second election with a lowered voting age.
Wollebæk, Dag; Fladmoe, Audun; Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold (2026). Tillit og turbulens: Endringer i tillit til forskning i Norge 2019–2024. Norsk statsvitenskapelig tidsskrift. 42(2), p. 65–85. doi: 10.18261/nst.42.2.1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Diskusjonen om en mulig tillitskrise for forskning er ikke ny, men har fått fornyet aktualitet i en turbulent tid preget av pandemi, krig og økonomisk usikkerhet. Denne studien undersøker hvordan forskning vurderes i en norsk kontekst preget av høy institusjonell tillit. Basert på 23 surveyundersøkelser gjennomført i perioden 2019–2024 (n = 31 835) studerer vi utviklingen i nordmenns tillit til forskning, forskere og ulike forskningsfelt med fokus på overordnede trender og variasjoner mellom befolkningsgrupper. Funnene viser stor og stabil tillit til forskning hele perioden sett under ett, med en midlertidig økning i tillit under pandemien, etterfulgt av en nedgang tilbake til tillitsnivåene fra før pandemien. Det er bare et mindretall som uttrykker liten tillit til forskning, og det er dermed ikke grunnlag for å snakke om en tillitskrise. Tillitsnivåene varierer mellom forskningsfelt, og gapet mellom generell tillit til forskning og tillit til spesifikke felt har økt. Særlig har tilliten til forskning på fornybar energi falt i perioden. Analysen peker på at utviklingen i tillit til forskning under pandemien i stor grad fulgte de samme trendene som utviklingen i politisk tillit.
Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2025). Local Electoral Politics: How Local Are Norwegian Local Elections? In Kolltveit, Kristoffer; Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd; Braut-Hegghammer, Målfrid & Rasch, Bjørn Erik (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Norwegian Politics. Oxford University Press. p. 337–355. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198888581.013.0018. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The aims of the chapter are first, to provide an overview of two prominent themes in research on Norwegian local elections – turnout and gender balance in representation – and second, to assess the localness of Norwegian municipal elections. Our main focus is on municipal council elections. Some features point to a strong local democracy: turnout is stable, young voters are mobilized, and candidate recruitment facilitates relatively gender-equal representation. However, there are socioeconomic inequalities in turnout. Regarding localness, municipal elections, in particular, are more than reflections of national politics, whereas county council elections are more similar to national elections. Municipal party systems are quite nationalized, but split-ticket voting, preference votes, the prevalence and significance of local issues, and the importance of local media for voters all signify that municipal voting behaviour is quite localized. Untraditional municipal coalition formation patterns show that the behaviour of municipal politicians is similarly localized.
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2025). Antisamisme i Norge – hvem opplever den, og mot hvem er den retta? In Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (Ed.), Sametingsvalget 2021: Et partisystem i endring?. Cappelen Damm AS. doi: 10.23865/cdf.247.ch8. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Antisámism is here defined as attitudes and actions characterized by negative sentiments towards the Sámi, including hate speech, discrimination, and violence. We first discuss various types of antisámism found in Norway, and then carry out quantitative analyses of data regarding experiences with antisamism, taken from the Norwegian Sámi Election Study. We distinguish between personally experienced and observed antisámism. Relatively few had often experienced antisámism directed towards themselves, but a much larger group had been exposed to antisámism directed at the Sámi as a group, or at other Sámi than themselves. We furthermore found clear differences within the Sámi population: Those with the strongest ties to Sámi language and society more often reported that they had experienced antisámism directed towards themselves. More surprisingly, the same groups were also more likely to have observed antisámi behaviour. Women were more likely to have observed antisámism, but not more likely to have personally experienced it. Three groups in the Sámi population stood out as more likely to experience both types of antisámism: younger Sámi, NSR voters, and Sámi living in the Vesthavet electoral constituency.
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2025). Sametingsvalget 2021 – velgere, partier, og partisystem. In Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (Ed.), Sametingsvalget 2021: Et partisystem i endring?. Cappelen Damm AS. doi: 10.23865/cdf.247.ch1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this introductory chapter, we first describe some main features of the 2021 Sámediggi election: developments in the electoral roll, the political context of the election, and the outcome in terms of election results. This description constitutes the foundation for the analyses in the following chapters. Next, we briefly describe the data and methods used in this book, before we present each of the main chapters. In the concluding discussion, we look into the historical roots of the present Sámediggi party system and discuss to what extent the 2021 election is a case of party system change.
Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Solheim, Øyvind Bugge (2025). Valg med lokale variasjoner. In Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (Ed.), Lokalvalgene 2023: maktforskyvning og normalisering. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 35–69. doi: 10.23865/cdf.251.ch2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The overall aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the 357 municipal council elections in 2023, and to explore local variations. The first part views municipal politics from a national perspective. We first look into changes in party preferences during the election campaign, and then explore the voters’ agendas: Which issues were salient? The voters’ agendas were fragmented and no issues stood out – in contrast to the 2019 ‘green election’. In the second main part, we analyse variations in the parties’ vote shares, especially national trends and local deviations. We also take a closer look at selected municipalities that deviate from national trends. We take a closer look at the municipalities in which each of the parties won or lost most voters, before we discuss developments in the largest cities. Although no issues stood out nationally, different issues were important in different municipalities. For example, the light rail left its mark on the election in Bergen, while free public transport was salient in Stavanger. The third main part deals with municipal coalition formation after the election. Here, we include both the positions of mayor and deputy mayor and at the parties that enter cooperation agreements. Many coalitions differ from what we find in national politics. Cross-bloc and within-bloc coalitions – seen from a national perspective – occur about equally often. Cross-bloc coalitions do not only occur when centrist parties change sides, but also as local cooperation between, among others, Labour and the Conservatives.
Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Rommetvedt, Hilmar (2025). Fylkes- og kommunepolitikk: velgernes interesse, vurderinger og tillit. In Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (Ed.), Lokalvalgene 2023: maktforskyvning og normalisering. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 123–153. doi: 10.23865/cdf.251.ch5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
While the municipalities have long been an indispensable part of Norwegian local democracy, the county level has been disputed. Abolishing the county councils is being discussed. The regional level has also received more attention through mergers and subsequent splits of counties. We examine the citizens’ relationship to county council elections, specifically their interest in and assessment of county politics and trust in county politicians, with the municipal level as a basis for comparison. The citizens are clearly more interested in municipal politics than county politics, and they believe that the municipal elections are more important both for themselves and for the community. Furthermore, weak interest in county politics is reflected in the fact that regional issues and candidates are less important for voting in county council elections than local issues and candidates are in municipal council elections. County council elections thus appear to be more influenced by national politics. While attention to county politics is consistently low, there are stronger differences between groups – such as age and education groups – with regard to interest in municipal politics. The difference between trust in municipal politicians and county politicians is far weaker than the corresponding differences in interest. The challenge facing regional democracy in Norway is thus not necessarily distrust, but rather a lack of commitment.
Christensen, Dag Arne; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2025). Lokalvalgene 2023: historisk maktforskyvning og normalisering. In Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (Ed.), Lokalvalgene 2023: maktforskyvning og normalisering. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 11–33. doi: 10.23865/cdf.251.ch1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this introductory chapter, we first describe some main features of the 2023 regional and municipal elections in Norway: the political context of the elections, the outcome in terms of election results, and electoral volatility. This description serves as a basis for the analyses in the following chapters. Next, we describe the 2023 Norwegian Local Election Study, including our voter survey and register data on candidates and voters. We then present each of the main chapters, before our concluding discussion of the 2023 elections: Was it a historic election or a return to normalcy?
Nordfjell, Laila Haugom & Saglie, Jo (2025). Unges deltakelse i det samiske demokratiet: motivasjon for å delta i sametingsvalg og stortingsvalg. In Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (Ed.), Sametingsvalget 2021: Et partisystem i endring?. Cappelen Damm AS. p. 155–183. doi: 10.23865/cdf.247.ch7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this chapter, we examine young Sámi voters’ motivation to vote in elections to the Sámi Parliament in Norway, contrasted with elections to the national parliament. We use semi-structured qualitative interviews with twelve informants from three different constituencies. Our starting point is two categories of explanations: individual and institutional factors. We find that the impact of the individual vote is perceived as greater in Sámi parliamentary elections, where there are fewer voters compared with Norwegian general elections. Furthermore, many of our informants mention specific issues as a motivation to vote in Sámi parliamentary elections, while the issues in the general election are described at a more abstract level. In the Sámi parliamentary elections, civic duty is linked to being a minority and the strength in numbers if everyone votes. In contrast, civic duty in general elections is linked to the role and power of the national parliament. Many of the informants regard individual candidates as more important in Sámi parliamentary elections than in general elections. In sum, young Sámi voters seem to feel closer to Sámi politics than national politics, but many thought that national elections had a greater impact on their lives. Moreover, compared to the wealth of available information on general elections, Sámi elections suffer from a lack of information on the Sámi Parliament and its parties.
Hesstvedt, Stine & Saglie, Jo (2025). The urban-rural cleavage: Analysing more than 40 years of Norwegian survey data. Electoral Studies: an international journal on voting and electoral systems and strategy. 96. doi: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102954. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In recent years, the political divide between urban and rural dwellers seems to have increased. Current literature has described the rise of a green, progressive and left-leaning urban electorate and a nationalist and conservative rural population. However, research usually lacks historical data on these developments outside of majoritarian systems. We provide new insights into the urban-rural divide's evolution in a European multi-party welfare state by analysing more than four decades of data from Norway and asking: How has the urban-rural divide over political issues evolved from a long-term perspective? Using unique election survey data, we analyse how both attitudes and most important issues among rural and urban voters in Norway have changed between 1977 and 2021. We also assess whether urban-rural differences are driven by sociodemographic change. Our results indicate both stability and change. On one hand, we find attitude polarisation in Norway on some issues: Divisions over environmental policy have increased, as the urban population displays more progressive attitudes than rural citizens over time. Rural citizens have become more concerned with centre and periphery issues. However, in other areas, we find stability and a relatively low degree of polarisation. For example, the rural population in Norway has become more similar to urban citizens regarding moral and religious issues. Furthermore, rural citizens have not become more right-leaning on economic questions, which has been a finding in more adversarial systems.
Josefsen, Eva & Saglie, Jo (2024). The Sámi Parliament in Norway: a “breaking in” perspective. The Polar Journal. 14(1), p. 109–128. doi: 10.1080/2154896X.2024.2342122. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The Sámediggi (Sámi Parliament) in Norway was established in 1989 after the critical juncture of the Alta conflict. As the Indigenous Sámi people are dispersed, a self-determination body with political autonomy was chosen, neither fitting into a territorial nor a non-territorial model of autonomy. We examine how the Sámediggi has developed as an institution for Sámi self-determination, the kind of self-determination being developed and the features it has, and why the model of self-determination is not founded on territorial autonomy and self-rule but still has a territorial basis. Having neither an exclusive Sámi territory nor lawmaking or fiscal powers, the Sámediggi depends on cooperation with Norwegian institutions. Rather than breaking out from the state, the Sámediggi’s strategy is breaking in – indigenising national, regional and local governments from the inside through consultations and formal agreements, thereby extending Indigenous perspectives and participation into non-Indigenous affairs. Sámi self-determination can thus be described as relational, resulting in a process marked by both setbacks and advances.
Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). The Local Party Branch and the Council Party Group: Who Governs? Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft. 31(2), p. 266–286. doi: 10.1111/spsr.12626. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
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.
Solvang, Øystein; Saglie, Jo & Winsvold, Marte (2023). Does municipal amalgamation affect trust in local politicians? The case of Norway. International Political Science Review. 46(1), p. 57–73. doi: 10.1177/01925121231216426. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
When municipalities merge, they grow and, at the same time, experience a comprehensive reform process, both of which may affect political trust. We explore whether and how the large-scale municipal amalgamation reforms in Norway in the 2010s affected citizens’ trust in local and national elected officials and assemblies. We examine the effects of both changes in size and reform processes using survey data on trust in local and national political officials and assemblies before, and at the time, of the merger. In contrast to studies conducted in Denmark, we do not find evidence that the Norwegian Local Government Reform had significant negative effects on political trust. We argue that this difference between Denmark and Norway can be explained by differences in how the two reform processes were implemented.
Saglie, Jo; Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar & Segaard, Signe Bock (2023). Lokaldemokratiets deltakere - bør partier og lokale lister likestilles? Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift (NNT). 40(2-3), p. 168–179. doi: 10.18261/nnt.40.2-3.8. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Lokale lister utgjør en viktig del av partisystemet i en del kommuner, men har dårligere rammebetingelser enn partier fordi de i praksis ikke kan registrere seg som partier. Lokale partilag og lokale lister gjør mye av det samme arbeidet i lokaldemokratiet, men har også hver sine unike fortrinn. I denne artikkelen kartlegger vi hva partilag og lister gjør, og stiller spørsmål ved grunnlaget for forskjellsbehandlingen av lokale lister og partier.
Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold; Haugsgjerd, Atle Hennum; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2023). What makes people trust or distrust politicians? Insights from open-ended survey questions. West European Politics. 47(4), p. 759–783. doi: 10.1080/01402382.2023.2268459. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
High political trust is often interpreted as a sign of good democratic health, and widespread distrust as a sign of democratic ill health. However, there is little knowledge about the basis on which people make assessments about whether to trust or distrust political actors. This article develops and applies a typology for political trust judgement. Through a content analysis of 1,105 open-ended survey questions about political trust and distrust, the study finds that people tend to assess (dis)trust of politicians based on whether they see the politicians as predictable, intrinsically committed, competent and responsive. Moreover, the study finds that citizens use different judgement bases to describe trust and distrust, suggesting that the two concepts are not pure negations of each other. While predictability is the most frequently reported basis for trusting politicians, a lack of intrinsic commitment is the most frequently reported basis for distrusting politicians. This article discusses the reasons for and implications of the apparently different bases for weighing judgements on trust and distrust.
Saglie, Jo (2023). Sentrum-periferi - en skillelinje i endring? In Bergh, Johannes & Haugsgjerd, Atle Hennum (Ed.), Politikk i urolige tider. En studie av stortingsvalget 2021. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 276–304. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2022). Norway: Local democracy by trial (and error). In Gendźwiłł, Adam; Kjaer, Ulrik & Steyvers, Kristof (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Local Elections and Voting in Europe. Routledge. p. 51–61. doi: 10.4324/9781003009672-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Norway appears to be a strongly integrated country. It is a unitary state, where all municipalities have the same status and are responsible for the same tasks. The aggregate strength of the political parties is almost the same at the local and national levels, and national political trends certainly influence municipal elections. However, there is considerable local variation. Local politics works differently in large and small municipalities. Moreover, local media and local issues are important to voters. Such local factors are invisible in aggregate statistics, as developments in different municipalities cancel each other out. Another source of variation is the tradition of trials, where new institutional solutions are piloted in selected municipalities, making local government a testing ground for democratic innovation.
Segaard, Signe Bock; Kjaer, Ulrik & Saglie, Jo (2022). Why Norway has more female local councillors than Denmark: a crack in the Nordic gender equality model? West European Politics. 46(2), p. 401–424. doi: 10.1080/01402382.2022.2050590. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The article explores why women are better represented in municipal councils in Norway than in Denmark. This comparative case study offers a most similar systems design, as these two countries are similar on most relevant institutional variables, such as local government systems, electoral systems, party systems and societal gender equality, but they deviate on the dependent variable of women’s representation. Two unique comparative data sets are analysed: representative voter surveys and register data on all candidates (from the 2019 Norwegian and 2017 Danish municipal elections). The study focuses on demand-side explanations and concludes that institutional explanations do not appear relevant. Instead, the parties’ candidate selection matters: Norwegian parties are more concerned with gender balance than their Danish counterparts. Finally, the article discusses why this is the case and asks whether gender equality plays a more prominent role on the societal agenda in Norway than in Denmark.
Saglie, Jo; Bergh, Johannes; Gitlesen, Jens Petter & Rommetvedt, Hilmar (2021). Hva skjedde ved valget? Nasjonale trender og lokale variasjoner. In Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (Ed.), Lokalvalget 2019: Nye kommuner - nye valg?. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 27–61. doi: 10.23865/noasp.134.ch2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The aim of this chapter is to provide a broad overview of national trends and local variations at the 2019 local elections – the first elections to be held in the new, merged municipalities and counties. Looking at the nationwide results, the government parties as well as the Labour Party suffered losses, while the other opposition parties – especially the Centre Party – were the winners. While welfare policy has been high on the voter agenda in previous elections, the environment and climate change were the most important issues this time, especially among young voters. The voter agenda nevertheless varied between municipalities. Climate and the environment were, like the issue of toll roads, most important in the cities. In many peripheral districts, on the other hand, amalgamation of municipalities and other centralizing public sector reforms were significant issues. The centre-periphery dimension is still important in Norwegian politics, and it has contributed to the Centre Party’s gains – particularly in a number of former Labour Party strongholds in northern Norway. Local conditions also contribute to variation. Looking at results from individual municipalities, local deviations from the national trend have increased. Moreover, an increasing share of voters says that local issues were important for their vote.
Pettersen, Torunn & Saglie, Jo (2021). Valgt av og blant samer – og enkelte andre? Ulike velgergruppers holdninger til kriteriene for å delta ved sametingsvalg i Norge. In Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (Ed.), Sametingsvalg: Tilhørighet, deltakelse, partipolitikk. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 41–66. doi: 10.23865/noasp.137.ch2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Self-determination for Indigenous peoples requires boundaries between those who are entitled to take part in the processes of self-determination and those who are not. In Norway, the registration criteria of the Sámi Parliament’s electoral roll constitute such boundaries. These criteria have not caused as much conflict in Norway as in other Nordic countries with Sámi Parliaments, but some debate has taken place. Some have argued for wider criteria, to allow certain groups without a Sámi ethnic background to register, while others prefer more narrow criteria to ensure that the registered voters have sufficient Sámi roots and cultural competence. In this chapter, we analyse attitudes towards the registration criteria within the registered Sámi electorate. The 2013 and 2017 voter surveys show essentially the same picture. About two-thirds were satisfied with the current criteria on both occasions. Among those who wanted a change, the majority were for expansion rather than limitation. Marriage to a registered voter and long-term connection to a Sámi community received the most support among the potential extension criteria. Attitudes became slightly more restrictive from 2013 to 2017, but the changes were larger within certain groups. In 2013, the question of expansion was to some extent party polarized. By 2017, these party differences had decreased: Labour Party voters had moved towards the more restrictive NSR voters. Also, some differences in attitudes to limitation appeared in 2017, when those who wanted stricter criteria were found primarily among those who had high scores on various measures of ties to the Sámi community.
Bergh, Johannes & Saglie, Jo (2021). Politisk avstand ved sametingsvalg: En kartlegging av det samiske ideologiske landskapet i Norge. In Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (Ed.), Sametingsvalg: Tilhørighet, deltakelse, partipolitikk. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 181–204. doi: 10.23865/noasp.137.ch7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this chapter, we explore the ideological and political landscape of Sámi electoral politics. Which ideological and political cleavages are important in Sámi politics, and how do these cleavages manifest themselves in voting patterns and party differences? We use the Sámi election surveys from 2013 to 2017. The analysis describes a Sámi political landscape with small ideological and political differences, where primarily the Progress Party stands out. Voters who favour this party are far from other party voters on the central issue of Sámi self-determination, and there is a mutually frosty relationship between Progress Party voters and other voters. On some issues, Conservative Party voters are in an intermediate position between the Progress Party voters and the rest, and voters for the Nordkalottfolket party also have a somewhat different profile. However, the differences between the remaining parties are less clear. This also applies to the two main competitors, the NSR and the Labour Party, and the political distances found in our survey questions cannot explain the pattern of coalition formation in the Sámi Parliament. The relatively small distances between the largest parties can be advantageous in dealing outwardly with the Norwegian state. Internally, however, small political distances can blur the political landscape in the eyes of the voters and make it difficult to choose between parties.
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2021). Sametingsvalget 2017: Velgere, kretser, partier og politikk. In Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (Ed.), Sametingsvalg: Tilhørighet, deltakelse, partipolitikk. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 11–40. doi: 10.23865/noasp.137.ch1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this introductory chapter, we present the foundations for the analyses of the main chapters. We first present some basic features of the Sámi political system in Norway: the electoral roll, the constituencies, and how the number of registered voters has increased in the different constituencies. Next, the parties and lists that participate in Sámi elections are presented. We then describe the political situation before the 2017 elections, and the outcome of this election. We then turn to the data and methods used in the book, before we present the chapters of the book and discuss some overarching conclusions.
Bergh, Johannes & Saglie, Jo (2021). Passive innmeldte: Om hjemmesitterne ved sametingsvalg. In Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (Ed.), Sametingsvalg: Tilhørighet, deltakelse, partipolitikk. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 165–179. doi: 10.23865/noasp.137.ch6. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The 2017 Sámi parliamentary elections saw an increase in turnout (measured in percent) for the first time since 2005. Although voter registration had increased, the number of votes increased even more. However, considering that one must register in the electoral roll to vote, 30 percent non-voters is a significant proportion. In this chapter, we use the voter survey to describe the non-voters. Regarding institutional factors, the analyses confirm the findings in Owren’s chapter: Although most of the electorate did not find it difficult to vote in the Sámi parliamentary elections, the exception was non-voters living in municipalities where only advance voting is allowed. Regarding individual factors, political resources matter. People with less education were especially overrepresented among the non-voters. Motivation is also important, and the non-voters were naturally less interested in politics in general and Sámi politics in particular. Those who joined the electoral roll to influence Sámi politics were seldom non-voters. On the other hand, those who signed up to express their Sámi identity were almost equally represented among the voters and non-voters. Although an instrumental motive for registration leads to high turnout, an expressive motive does not hinder electoral participation. We also find that non-voters to a lesser extent felt that their voice mattered or that there were political alternatives that represented their views. On the other hand, voters and non-voters did not differ substantially regarding perceived political differences between the parties and lists.
Saglie, Jo & Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd (2020). Et åpnere partisystem? In Bergh, Johannes; Haugsgjerd, Atle & Karlsen, Rune (Ed.), Valg og politikk siden 1945. Velgere, institusjoner og kritiske hendelser i norsk politisk historie. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 182–194. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo; Mörkenstam, Ulf & Bergh, Johannes (2020). Political Cleavages in Indigenous Representation: The Case of the Norwegian and Swedish Sámediggis. Nationalism & Ethnic Politics. 26(2), p. 105–125. doi: 10.1080/13537113.2020.1754555. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Using Lipset and Rokkan’s cleavage theory in an Indigenous context, the article compares political cleavages in internal Sámi politics in Norway and Sweden. The authors discuss the historical legacies of each country’s policies toward the Sámi and subsequent development of party systems before using survey data to analyze cleavages within the Sámi electorates. The analysis shows a prominent cleavage in Sámi politics in Norway regarding the extent of Sámi self-determination, whereas the main cleavage in Sweden can be found in the category-split between reindeer herders and other Sámi created by state policy. Contemporary cleavages in Indigenous politics may, thus, be deeply rooted in nation-building processes.

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Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (2025). Sametingsvalget 2021: Et partisystem i endring? Cappelen Damm AS. 212 p. doi: 10.23865/cdf.247. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Sametingsvalget 2021: Et partisystem i endring? tar for seg sametingspolitikken i Norge – særlig det som skjedde rundt valget i 2021, men også de lange linjene i samepolitikken. Datagrunnlaget er velgerundersøkelsene som har blitt gjennomført ved hvert sametingsvalg siden 2009, men også andre kilder som informantintervjuer. Ved sametingsvalget i 2021 ble noen velkjente mønstre fra tidligere valg videreført, men noen tydelige brudd oppstod også. Etter valget framsto Sametingets partisystem som radikalt endret: mens Norske Samers Riksforbund og Arbeiderpartiet tidligere hadde vært de to største partiene, ble Nordkalottfolket denne gangen nest størst. Dette innebar også en polarisering – det ble større avstand og skarpere tone mellom de to største partiene. Gjennom åtte kapitler dekker Sametingsvalget 2021: et partisystem i endring? denne utviklingen. Boka åpner med et innføringskapittel om 2021-valget og hvordan man kan forstå det i et historisk perspektiv, og fortsetter med ett kapittel om hvert av de tre største partiene, med grundige diskusjoner av partienes utvikling og analyser av deres velgergrunnlag. Et eget kapittel tar for seg de geografiske skillelinjene i norsk samepolitikk, som kan sies å drive en del av endringene i partisystemet. To kapitler handler om politisk deltakelse i og mellom valg: et overblikkskapittel, og et kapittel som går nærmere inn på unge velgeres motivasjon for å delta i valg. Det siste kapitlet tar for seg hvilke grupper blant samene som opplever mest hets og diskriminering, også med et blikk på partienes velgergrupper.
Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (2025). Lokalvalgene 2023: maktforskyvning og normalisering. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 349 p. doi: 10.23865/cdf.251. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Denne antologien setter søkelys på hjertet i det lokale representative demokratiet; alle de lokale valgene som ble holdt rundt om i vårt langstrakte land 11. september 2023. Hvert fjerde år velger folket representanter til kommunestyret og fylkestinget. Gjennom valget stikkes den politiske retningen ut, og de folkevalgte får mandat til å beslutte på vegne av velgerne de neste fire årene. Det er også i valg politikere og partier blir straffet eller belønnet for tidligere innsats. Med utgangspunkt i et rikholdig datamateriale som inkluderer blant annet en velgerundersøkelse gjennomført ved hvert valg siden 1995, manntall- og registerdata, data over samtlige kandidater som stilte til valg, samt kvalitative intervjuer og dokumentdata, belyser boken ulike sider ved det lokale demokratiet – i valg og mellom valg – anno 2023. På velgernivået ser vi blant annet på velgeratferd, valgkamp og valgdeltakelse samt tillit til politikere og til egne påvirkningsmuligheter. Vi ser også på lokalpolitikernes representativitet og deres erfaringer med hets og sjikane. Hensikten med boken er å ta temperaturen på vårt lokale demokrati i en valgperiode preget av politiske, samfunnsmessige og økonomiske omveltninger. Vi studerer lokaldemokratiet i et noe bredere perspektiv enn tidligere lokalvalgundersøkelser ved å i større grad ta inn det fylkeskommunale nivået, som har vært underbelyst både i lokalvalgforskningen og i den offentlige debatten til tross for nivåets politiske og demokratiske aktualitet.
Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (2021). Lokalvalget 2019: Nye kommuner - nye valg? Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 288 p. doi: 10.23865/noasp.134. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Denne antologien handler om de mange lokalvalgene som ble holdt rundt om i Norge 9. september 2019. Med utgangspunkt i velgerundersøkelsene som er gjennomført ved hvert lokalvalg siden 1995, tar boken gjennom ti kapitler for seg dels valg, velgeratferd, valgkamp og valgutfall, og dels politisk deltakelse og politisk tillit mellom valgene. Det er i kommunene flest innbyggere har anledning til å delta i politikkutformingen, og lokalnivået spiller ofte en viktig rolle i den enkeltes hverdagsliv. Hensikten med boken er derfor også å forstå hvordan lokaldemokratiet fungerer mellom valgene. Lokalvalget i 2019 var preget av høy valgdeltakelse, mobilisering og protest gjennom fokus på politiske saker som bompenger, klima og kommunereform. Kommunereformen var ikke bare valgkamptema, men en sentral rammebetingelse for lokalvalget i 2019. Kommunesammenslåing er derfor et gjennomgående tema i boken. Ett emne er hva innbyggerne mener om kommunereformen og dens mulige konsekvenser. Flere kapitler utforsker sammenslåingenes betydning for ulike sider ved lokaldemokratiet: lokale partisystemer, valgdeltakelse, personstemmegivning, partienes nominasjoner, og representasjon i kommunestyrene. Samlet sett er antologien en statusrapport for lokaldemokratiet i det første valget etter kommunereformen. Boken henvender seg til alle som er interessert i utviklingen av det norske lokaldemokratiet, men særlig til studenter, forskere, journalister og politisk aktive.
Saglie, Jo; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Pettersen, Torunn (2021). Sametingsvalg: Tilhørighet, deltakelse, partipolitikk. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 266 p. doi: 10.23865/noasp.137. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Denne boka er den tredje i en rekke av studier av sametingsvalg i Norge. Med utgangspunkt i velgerundersøkelser og kvalitative studier behandler boka ulike sider ved sametingsvalg generelt og valget i 2017 spesielt. Gjennom ni kapitler ser boka både på velgeradferd og valgresultat og på mer grunnleggende spørsmål om samepolitikkens oppbygging. Boka har fem hovedtemaer. For det første, samisk identitet og forholdet til valgmanntallet. Hva skal til for å oppfatte seg selv eller andre som same? Når er man «samisk nok» til å melde seg inn i valgmanntallet? Disse spørsmålene angår selve grunnlaget for samepolitikken: hvem som skal tillates å velge representanter på vegne av det samiske folket. For det andre, det samiske sivilsamfunnet. Hvordan forholder organisasjoner som representerer samer og samiske interesser seg til Sametinget? For det tredje, valgdeltakelse. Hvordan kan man forklare hjemmesitting i et system der man – i motsetning til andre valg i Norge – aktivt må registrere seg på forhånd som velger? Og hva med det faktum at velgere i kommuner med færre enn 30 manntallsførte må forhåndsstemme – bidrar dette til å trekke ned valgdeltakelsen? For det fjerde, det partipolitiske landskapet. Hva skiller velgerne til de ulike partiene? Er det tydelige forskjeller som gjør det lett for velgerne å se forskjell på partiene? For det femte, valgkampen og velgernes informasjon. Hvor henter velgerne sin informasjon om valget fra? Vi ser særlig på hvordan partier og velgere finner hverandre i Sør-Norge, en valgkrets der sametingsvalget nesten ikke dekkes i mediene. Sametingsvalg: Tilhørighet, deltakelse, partipolitikk henvender seg til alle som er opptatt av ulike sider ved det å ha et samisk demokratisk system i Norge, men særlig til studenter, forskere, journalister og samepolitisk aktive.

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Stenersen, Eirik Nøren; Helberg, Magnus Strand; Svensgaard, Marit; Vernø, Susanne; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). Evaluering av Valgdirektoratets tjenester ved valget i 2023. Oslo Economics. Full text in Research Archive
Stenersen, Eirik Nøren; Helberg, Magnus Strand; Svensgaard, Marit; Vernø, Susanne; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). Valggjennomføringsundersøkelsen 2023. Oslo Economics. Full text in Research Archive
Selvik, Lisa-Marie; Christensen, Dag Arne; Ervik, Rune; Saglie, Jo; Erdvik, Irina Burchard & Blåka, Sara (2024). Evaluering av assistansebestemmelsen i valgloven. NORCE Research AS. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Denne rapporten evaluerer praktiseringen av assistansebestemmelsen i valgloven, etter lovendringen i 2021. Hovedtemaer er valgmedarbeidernes og velgernes kjennskap til og erfaringer med assistansebestemmelsen. Datamaterialet består av en spørreundersøkelse til valgansvarlige for lokalvalget 2023 og kvalitative intervjuer med valgmedarbeidere og velgere, samt kommunale råd og nasjonale organisasjoner som representerer ulike grupper med nedsatt funksjonsevne. Intervjuene våre tyder på at lovendringen ennå ikke er godt kjent blant velgere med behov for assistanse. Hovedinntrykket er at assistansebestemmelsen er godt kjent i kommunene, men våre funn viser at det fremdeles er tilfeller hvor regelendringen ikke er kjent og praktiseres rett. Det er fortsatt behov for å informere velgere og valgmedarbeiderne om retten til selvvalgt hjelper.
Arnesen, Sveinung; Blåka, Sara; Broderstad, Troy Saghaug; Saglie, Jo; Selvik, Lisa-Marie & Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold (2024). Evaluering av lokaldemokratitiltak i foregangskommuner. NORCE Research AS. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Bergen kommune, Bodø kommune, Gjøvik kommune, Lørenskog kommune, Suldal kommune, Sunnfjord kommune og Vadsø kommune har alle blitt trukket fram av Kommunal- og distriktsdepartementet for deres lokaldemokratiske arbeid. Med utgangspunkt i intervjuer av politikere, administrasjonsansatte og andre informanter i kommunene undersøker, systematiserer og analyserer vi erfaringene med de ulike demokratitiltakene som ble gjennomført i de syv foregangskommunene. Rapporten har et spesielt fokus på rekruttering, representativitet, og hvordan innbyggerdeltakelsen kobles til det representative systemet.
Segaard, Signe Bock & Saglie, Jo (2023). Institusjonell tillit i ulike befolkningsgrupper i Norge: Kunnskapsoversikt og deskriptiv analyse. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Rapporten undersøker om den institusjonelle tilliten i Norge varierer mellom befolkningsgrupper og etter bosted. Det rettes særskilt oppmerksomhet mot institusjoner som er relevante for sikkerhetsspørsmål, det vil si politiet og Forsvaret, i tillegg til politiske og demokratiske institusjoner som Regjeringen (utøvende makt), Stortinget (lovgivende makt) og domstolene (dømmende makt) samt den offentlige forvaltningen mer generelt. Rapporten inneholder en forskningsoversikt som kort drøfter begrepet «institusjonell tillit», og som sammenfatter kunnskap om sammenhengen mellom tillit og sosiodemografiske og geografiske kjennetegn i befolkningen. Deretter følger en empirisk analyse av ulike gruppers tillit til utvalgte samfunnsinstitusjoner. Her er blikket i særlig grad rettet mot grupper som skiller seg ut når det gjelder tillit til institusjonene. Avslutningsvis drøftes noen forhold og spørsmål for videre forskning som denne rapporten ikke har belyst: hvilken betydning folks institusjonelle (mis-)tillit har for myndighetskommunikasjon og myndigheters politikkgjennomføring.
Saglie, Jo; Christensen, Dag Arne; Ervik, Rune; Hesstvedt, Stine & Segaard, Signe Bock (2022). Tilgjengelighet og tilrettelegging for funksjonshemmede ved stortingsvalget 2021. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Et formål med valgloven er at alle personer med stemmerett skal kunne stemme uavhengig av funksjonsevne. Selv om tilgjengeligheten og tilretteleggingen er god for velgerne i norske valg, kan enkelte oppleve at praktiske forhold gjør det vanskelig å bruke stemmeretten. Med det som utgangspunkt undersøker denne rapporten tilgjengeligheten for velgere med funksjonsnedsettelser i stortingsvalget 2021. Kommunene har ansvaret for at formålet i valgloven blir realisert i landets i overkant av 2800 valglokaler. Måten kommunene løser denne oppgaven på, er dermed avgjørende for tilretteleggingen i og utenfor valglokalene. Rapporten konsentreres om kommunenes arbeid med tilrettelegging for velgerne under forberedelsene til valget, og i hvilken grad de oppfyller kravene til tilgjengelighet og tilrettelegging i og rundt valglokalene. Datamaterialet består av tre kilder: en elektronisk spørreundersøkelse til alle landets kommuner, kvalitative intervjuer med valgansvarlige i ni kommuner, og faktiske observasjoner i 27 valglokaler fordelt på de sistnevnte ni kommunene. Med hensyn til valgforberedelsene viser analysen at kun et mindretall av kommunene involverer representanter for velgere med funksjonsnedsettelser når valget planlegges. Det gjelder med hensyn til valg av valglokaler og i utformingen av informasjonsmateriell. Med hensyn til selve stemmegivningen mener hele 90 prosent av kommunene at den aktuelle velgergruppen vil kunne avgi stemme i samtlige valglokaler i kommunen. Likevel viser observasjonene i valglokalene at det er rom for forbedring når det gjelder blant annet framkommelighet og merking/skilting. Avslutningsvis diskuterer rapporten enkelte konkrete forslag til hvordan tilretteleggingen kan forbedres ytterligere for velgere med funksjonsnedsettelser.
Saglie, Jo; Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar & Segaard, Signe Bock (2022). Lokale partilag og lister. Organisasjon, aktiviteter og økonomi. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Lokale partilag og lokale lister har fått lite oppmerksomhet i forskningen til tross for deres viktige rolle i demokratiet. Denne rapporten gir et oversiktsbilde av kommunepartier og lokale lister i Norge og beskriver så vel deres interne arbeid og organisering som deres forhold til kommunestyret, lokalsamfunnet, partienes fylkesledd og nasjonale ledd samt de økonomiske rammebetingelsene for driften. Rapporten bygger på tre datakilder: en spørreundersøkelse til alle kommunepartier og lokale lister som ble representert i norske kommunestyrer etter valget i 2019, en spørreundersøkelse til alle norske kommuner og kvalitative intervjuer med 19 ledere av kommunepartier og lokale lister. Den overordnede konklusjonen er at det står nokså bra til med lokalpartiene og listene: De fungerer fortsatt som rekrutteringskanaler til lokalpolitikken, som medlemsorganisasjoner, som medspillere for kommunestyregruppene og som bindeledd til samfunnet for øvrig. De opplever også at rammevilkårene generelt er gode nok til at de kan utføre sine demokratiske kjernefunksjoner.

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Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2026). Pioneering Indigenous Intra-Party Representation: the Sámi, the Norwegian Labour Party, and a New Model for Indigenous Inclusion. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this paper, we explore a type of party sub-organisation that has received little attention in the literature: sub-organisations for Indigenous peoples. We present an in-depth study, based on party documents, media articles, and qualitative interviews, of the development of a Sámi sub-organization within the Norwegian Labour Party. The process towards establishing a Sámi Parliament in Norway began in 1979, and discussions about a new model for Indigenous representation in the Norwegian Labour Party immediately appeared. The model gradually developed, reaching its current structure in 1997. In this paper we first investigate how and why this precise model grew forth within the Labour Party, and second, the benefits, limitations and tensions inherent in the model. Several factors contributed to the development of the “Sámi Labour” structure, such as: internal conflicts that necessitated clear structures; the decision to participate in Sámi Parliament elections; inspiration from the Norwegian Sámi Council; and good connections between the pro-rights wing of the party and the central party headquarters. One challenge that seem to be inherent is that the model requires good relations between the Sámi party organisation, the party group in the Sámi Parliament, and the main party organisation. Other things that appear to impede the “Sámi Labour” structure are the absence of a permanent membership register and that the Norwegian Labour Party’s organization mainly follows the Norwegian administrative structure, which crosscuts the Sámi Parliament constituencies.
Mangset, Marte; Saglie, Jo & Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold (2026). Why People Trust Research: Insights from Open-ended Survey Questions. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Democratic policymaking increasingly relies on research-based evidence, yet its authority depends on public trust in research. In a political context often described as “post-truth,” such trust has become contested, shaped by polarization, accusations of politicization, and struggles over the boundary between science and politics. This paper examines how citizens justify trust in research, what explains differences in these justifications, and how they relate to overall trust levels. The analysis draws on a survey of approximately 1,300 respondents who answered open-ended questions about what they consider important for trusting research and science. Responses were coded inductively to capture citizens’ own reasoning. Many justifications reflect established dimensions of interpersonal trust, particularly perceived competence, integrity, and benevolent intentions. Others concern the broader system of scientific knowledge production, including research funding, methodological quality, transparency, and validation. These factors serve as epistemic cues through which citizens assess the trustworthiness of research. The contribution is partly exploratory, seeking to clarify the foundations of trust and lack of trust in research as they are articulated by citizens themselves. By examining the reasoning behind trust judgments rather than trust levels alone, the paper develops an empirically grounded typology of trust in research suited to politicized contexts. Closed-ended survey measures are also used to identify factors associated with different trust rationales and to assess whether these rationales predict overall trust in research.
Saglie, Jo (2026). Bør lokale lister og partier likestilles? Full text in Research Archive
Wollebæk, Dag; Fladmoe, Audun & Saglie, Jo (2026). Polarization of trust in academic research: Evidence from a high-trust, multi-party context. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Previous research on polarization in trust in science has focused primarily on populist voters as carriers of anti-establishment attitudes. In this paper, we go beyond the populist/non-populist dichotomy by including both an intermediary category of elite-skeptical voters and an outsider category of micro-party voters and non-voters. We analyze both polarization as a state and changes in polarization over time in the high-trust, consensus-oriented context of Norway, using nationally representative surveys from the period 2019–2025 with a high number of observations (n = 35,493). Our snapshot analysis reveals patterns consistent with findings elsewhere in Europe: anti-establishment attitudes polarize general trust, while ideology, primarily GAL–TAN, explains residual domain-specific trust after adjustment for general institutional trust. Polarization has increased moderately over time across measures, with no residual increase in contested fields after accounting for general trust in research. These changes, while statistically significant, remain modest. Polarization of trust in science and academic research is still limited in Norway compared to other European countries, except for environmental science.
Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2025). Coalition formation in Norwegian municipalities: national blocs or local variation? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this paper, we shed light on the nationalization and closure of municipal party systems by exploring whether local coalitions in Norway follow the national pattern of coalition formation, and whether there are variations between municipalities. In most Norwegian municipalities, the council elects an executive committee by proportional representation. There is nevertheless often a clear division between government and opposition within this apparently consensual framework. Agreements between parties are often needed when the municipal council elects its mayor and deputy mayor. We first explore such agreements in selected municipalities qualitatively, to assess the degree of policy commitment. Second, we use quantitative data on the party affiliation of mayors and deputy mayors from 1987 to 2023, as well as data on party agreements on the 2023 mayor elections, to analyse whether local coalitions follow the national blocs. Our analyses show that even though the national political parties dominate Norwegian local politics, local cooperation that cross-cuts the national political blocs occur quite often, and more often than 40 years ago. The degree of party closure across space is thus limited.
Saglie, Jo (2025). Tillit til myndighetene. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2025). Valg, lokaldemokrati og styreformer. Full text in Research Archive
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2025). Et topartisystem på Sametinget? doi: https:/www.kristiania.no/forskning/forskningsgrupper/polcom/Valganalyse/valganalyse-2025/et-topartisystem-pa-sametinget/. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Ved årets valg gikk Sametinget i retning av et topartisystem – men hva skiller de to største partiene?
Saglie, Jo (2025). The Sámi Parliament Elections. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2025). Valg 2025. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2025). Et partisystem i endring? Full text in Research Archive
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2025). Sametingsvalgundersøkelsen: presenterer nye funn. [Journal]. Ságat. Full text in Research Archive
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2025). Diggipodden: "Sametingsvalgboka har kommet". [Radio]. Diggipodden (Ságats sametingspolitiske podcast). Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2025). Lokalvalgene 2023 - maktforskyvning og normalisering. Full text in Research Archive
Wollebæk, Dag; Fladmoe, Audun & Saglie, Jo (2025). Tillit i krisetider: Endring og polarisering i tillit til forskning i Norge 2019-2024. Full text in Research Archive
Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2025). Coalition formation in Norwegian municipalities: national blocs or local variation? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this paper, we shed light on the nationalization of municipal party systems by exploring whether local coalitions in Norway follow the national pattern of coalition formation, with alternation between a centre-left and a centre-right bloc, and whether there are variations between municipalities of different size. Norway’s three largest cities use parliamentary rule, where a formal coalition – a city government – is formed and executive power is concentrated. In the other municipalities, the municipal council elects an executive committee by proportional representation. Although this may be regarded as a consensual model, there is often a clear division between government and opposition also within such framework. The municipal council elects the mayor and the deputy mayor. Agreements between parties are often needed for these elections, creating a governing coalition (or single-party rule) and an opposition. The political element of these coalitions nevertheless varies, ranging from technical cooperation to fill these posts to formalized policy agreements. To analyse our research questions, we use quantitative data on the party affiliation of mayors and deputy mayors from 1987 to 2023, as well as data on the parties that entered agreements on the 2023 mayor elections, In addition, we conduct a qualitative analysis of written agreements on mayoral elections in selected municipalities.
Saglie, Jo (2025). Hvor høy er tilliten til lokalpolitikerne - og hvor høy bør den være? Full text in Research Archive
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel; Pettersen, Torunn & Saglie, Jo (2024). Kunnskap tynger ikke. Noen oppklaringer om Sametingets valgmanntall og forskning. Ságat - Samisk avis. Full text in Research Archive
Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). Coalition formation in Norwegian municipalities: national blocs or local variation? Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). How local are Norwegian local elections? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this chapter, we first provide an overview of Norwegian local elections – including both municipal and county council elections. Several indicators point to a strong local democracy in Norway: Turnout is lower than in national elections but nevertheless stable. Young voters are mobilized, and most local parties recruit a balanced set of candidates which facilitates more gender equal representation. We then turn to the localness of Norwegian local elections. Municipal elections, in particular, are more than reflections of national politics. Whereas the party system is quite nationalized, voting is rather localized. Split-ticket voting, preference votes, the prevalence and significance of local issues, the importance of local media for voters, and untraditional local coalition formation all signify that municipal voting behaviour is quite localized. County council elections, on the other hand, are less different from national politics, and closer to the second-order model.
Nordfjell, Laila Haugom & Saglie, Jo (2024). Unges deltakelse i det samiske demokratiet: motivasjon for å delta i sametingsvalg og stortingsvalg. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this chapter, we examine young Sámi voters’ motivation to vote in elections to the Sámi Parliament in Norway, contrasted with elections to the national parliament. We use semi-structured qualitative interviews with twelve informants from three different constituencies. Our starting point is two categories of explanations: individual and institutional factors. We find that the impact of the individual vote is perceived as greater in Sámi parliamentary elections, where there are fewer voters compared with Norwegian general elections. Furthermore, many of our informants mention specific issues as a motivation to vote in Sámi parliamentary elections, while the issues in the general election are described at a more abstract level. In the Sámi parliamentary elections, civic duty is linked to being a minority and the strength in numbers if everyone votes. In contrast, civic duty in general elections is linked to the role and power of the national parliament. Many of the informants regard individual candidates as more important in Sámi parliamentary elections than in general elections. In sum, young Sámi voters seem to feel closer to Sámi politics than national politics, but many thought that national elections had a greater impact on their lives. Moreover, compared to the wealth of available information on general elections, Sámi elections suffer from a lack of information on the Sámi Parliament and its parties.
Saglie, Jo (2024). Sametingsvalg og sametingsvalgundersøkelsen; Lokale lister versus registrerte partier. Full text in Research Archive
Rommetvedt, Hilmar & Saglie, Jo (2024). Historiske valg: kommunestyre- og fylkestingsvalgene 2023. Full text in Research Archive
Kjær, Ulrik; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). Trust in regional and municipal politicians: a comparison of Denmark and Norway. Full text in Research Archive
Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). Velgernes forhold til fylkes- og kommunepolitikk. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Tidligere lokalvalgsundersøkelser i Norge har i hovedsak konsentrert seg om kommunevalg, og nøyd seg med å konstatere at velgerne viser liten interesse for fylkespolitikk. De siste årene har imidlertid det regionale nivået fått mer oppmerksomhet i Norge, ikke minst ved den omfattende sammenslåingen av fylker under Solberg-regjeringen, og deretter en oppsplitting av en del av de sammenslåtte fylkene under Støre-regjeringen. Vi undersøker derfor velgernes forhold til fylkestingsvalg nærmere, med kommunestyrevalg som sammenligningsgrunnlag. Data hentes fra Lokalvalgsundersøkelsen 2023, der det er stilt flere spørsmål om fylkesnivået enn ved tidligere lokalvalgsundersøkelser. Vi undersøker velgernes interesse for fylkespolitikk og tillit til fylkespolitikere, sammenlignet med det kommunale nivået.
Saglie, Jo (2024). Hvor lokalt er lokalvalget? Full text in Research Archive
Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). Coalition formation in Norwegian municipalities: national blocs or local variation? Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2024). Eldre og politisk representasjon. Full text in Research Archive
Kjær, Ulrik; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2024). Trust in regional and municipal politicians: a comparison of Denmark and Norway. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this paper, we explore and compare citizens’ trust in politicians at the municipal and regional levels in Denmark and Norway. Both countries have a generally high level of political trust, and they have similar structures for local and regional government. Structural reforms have been implemented at the municipal and regional level in both countries. However, whereas the municipal level has a strong standing in the political systems of both countries, the role of the regional level has been disputed and its tasks has been altered – but in different ways in the two countries. Moreover, while numerous studies pursue the question of trust in municipal councillors, less work has been done on citizens’ trust in regional councillors. Based on unique comparative data from the 2021 Danish Local Election Study and the 2023 Norwegian Local Election Study, in which identical questions have been asked, we analyse citizens’ trust in municipal and regional councillors empirically: To what extent do trust in regional politicians differ from trust in municipal politicians, and to what extent do trust in regional politicians differ between Denmark and Norway? And what can explain differences? Our primary interest lies in contextual explanations; size of the political unit and whether the unit is affected by structural reform.
Saglie, Jo (2023). Lokalvalg eller riksgallup? p. 16–17. Full text in Research Archive
Hesstvedt, Stine & Saglie, Jo (2023). Cross-cutting or overlapping? The urban-rural cleavage in a historical perspective. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In the literature of electoral politics, geography has been rediscovered as a political cleavage. Traditionally, the work of Lipset and Rokkan (1967) described the urban-rural cleavage as a power struggle over economic resources and the centre–periphery cleavage as a struggle over national identity. Both of these cut across other cleavages. Current research, however, finds increased overlap in attitudes, depicting the rise of a green, progressive and left-leaning urban electorate and a nationalist and conservative rural population that contributes to elevated levels of polarization. This paper provides new knowledge about the development of the urban-rural cleavage in European multi-party systems over time, by analysing six decades of unique survey data from Norway. We ask: How and to what extent has the urban-rural cleavage become more overlapping or cross-cutting since the 1950s and until today? Specifically, we study changes in the attitudes of rural and urban populations towards new and old politics issues between 1977 and 2021. We also assess the changing content and saliency of the urban-rural cleavage by making use of Most Important Issue (MIP) survey questions. Overall, the paper contributes with novel insights of the development of a century-old cleavage that has again come to the fore in electoral politics.
Saglie, Jo (2023). Har funksjonshemmede lik mulighet til å stemme? p. 16–17. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2023). How local are Norwegian local elections? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this chapter, we first provide an overview of Norwegian local elections – including both municipal and county council elections. Several indicators point to a strong local democracy in Norway: Turnout is lower than in national elections but nevertheless stable. Young voters are mobilized, and most local parties recruit a balanced set of candidates which facilitates more gender equal representation. We then turn to the localness of Norwegian local elections. Municipal elections, in particular, are more than reflections of national politics. Whereas the party system is quite nationalized, voting is rather localized. Split-ticket voting, preference votes, the prevalence and significance of local issues, the importance of local media for voters, and untraditional local coalition formation all signify that municipal voting behaviour is quite localized. County council elections, on the other hand, are less different from national politics, and closer to the second-order model.
Saglie, Jo (2023). Hva skaper tillit og mistillit til lokalpolitikere? p. 16–17. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2023). Samisk politisk tillit - fra Alta til Fosen. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2023). Partilag og kommunestyregruppe: hvem bestemmer? p. 19–19. Full text in Research Archive
Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2023). The Party Branch and the Council Party Group: Who Governs? Full text in Research Archive
Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2023). Lokale lister: Både innenfor og utenfor i 2023. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2023). Sentrum-periferi: en skillelinje i endring? Full text in Research Archive
Hesstvedt, Stine & Saglie, Jo (2023). Centre and periphery: a changing cleavage in Norwegian politics? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In the literature of electoral politics, geography has been rediscovered as a political cleavage. Traditionally, the work of Lipset and Rokkan (1967) described the urban-rural cleavage as a power struggle over economic resources and national identity that cut across other cleavages. Current research, however, finds increased overlap in attitudes, depicting the rise of a green, progressive and left-leaning urban electorate and a nationalist and conservative rural population that contributes to elevated levels of polarization. This paper provides new knowledge about the development of the urban-rural cleavage in European multi-party systems over time, by analysing six decades of unique survey data from Norway, where the cleavage have been persistently vital to electoral politics. Specifically, we study changes in the attitudes of rural and urban populations towards new and old politics issues between 1957 and 2021. We also assess the changing content and saliency of the urban-rural cleavage by making use of Most Important Issue (MIP) survey questions. Overall, the paper contributes with novel insights of the development of a century-old cleavage that has again come to the fore in electoral politics.
Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2023). The Party Branch and the Council Party Group: Who Governs? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The relationship between the three organizational ‘faces’ of political parties – the party on the ground, the party central office, and the party in public office – has received much attention in the party literature. However, the relationship between the local party branch organization and the local party in public office has been left largely unexplored. In this paper, we explore the relationship between these two ‘faces‘ at the local level in 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 involvement of party branches in council work, and the degree of integration between the party branch and council group. Overall, the general picture is that the work in the two local party ‘faces’ is strongly integrated. However, we also find that that local branches of left-of-centre parties are more likely to be highly involved in council work, and less likely to be fully integrated with its council group. The left-of-centre tradition of giving more power to the extra-parliamentary organization seems to prevail. However, municipal size and party branch size also matter, although these effects are less consistent.
Belschner, Jana Birke; Aars, Jacob & Saglie, Jo (2023). Does suffrage increase representation? Voting age reforms and the recruitment of young politicians. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2023). Industri- og næringspartiet – døgnflue eller varig partidannelse? In Kalsnes, Bente; Raknes, Ketil & Larsson, Anders Olof (Ed.), Valganalyse 2023. Høyskolen Kristiania. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2023). Bør lokale lister og partier likestilles? p. 16–17. Full text in Research Archive
Josefsen, Eva & Saglie, Jo (2022). The Sami Parliament in Norway: a ‘breaking in’ perspective. Full text in Research Archive
Kjær, Ulrik; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2022). I Danmark har vi markant færre kvinder i kommunalbestyrelser end i Norge. [Internet]. Videnskab.dk . Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2022). Sami Political Institutions and Indigenous National Representation in the North. Full text in Research Archive
Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold; Haugsgjerd, Atle; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2022). What makes people trust or distrust politicians? A qualitative approach using open-ended survey questions. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Research on political trust typically uses closed-ended survey questions that ask citizens how much they trust political actors, without defining the concept of trust. However, to say something about the consequences of political (dis)trust, we need to know what trust and distrust actually mean to people. Inspired by Van der Meer’s classification of judgement bases for political trust—competence, intrinsic and extrinsic commitment, and predictability—we analysed the responses to two open-ended survey questions about political trust and distrust. We found that Van der Meer’s trust criteria are relevant, but not exhaustive. We suggest a new category—responsiveness—to be added to the typology. Moreover, we found that citizens use different judgement bases to describe trust and distrust, suggesting that the two concepts are not pure negations of each other. While predictability is the basis most frequently reported for trusting politicians, lack of intrinsic commitment is the most frequently reported basis for distrusting politicians.
Saglie, Jo; Hansen, Vibeke Wøien; Mjelde, Hilmar & Segaard, Signe Bock (2022). Lokale listers paradoks: Både innenfor og utenfor. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Lokale lister utgjør en viktig del av partisystemet i en del kommuner, men framstår likevel som en «underdog» sammenlignet med partiene. En årsak er at de har dårligere rammebetingelser, ved at de i praksis ikke kan registrere seg som partier. Lokale partilag og lokale lister gjør mye av det samme arbeidet i lokaldemokratiet, men har også hver sine unike fortrinn. I denne artikkelen kartlegger vi hva partilag og lister gjør, og stiller spørsmål ved grunnlaget for forskjellsbehandlingen.
Saglie, Jo; Solvang, Øystein & Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold (2022). Does municipal amalgamation affect trust in local politicians? The case of Norway. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Studies of the municipal amalgamation reform in Denmark has demonstrated that political trust is vulnerable to changes in jurisdictional borders. In this paper, we explore the extent to which the large-scale municipal amalgamation reform in Norway of the 2010s affected citizens’ trust in local and national elected assemblies. Using data from before the merger and at the time of the merger, we compare the development of trust in local and national political assemblies in unmerged municipalities, ‘senior partners’ in merged municipalities, and ‘junior partners’ in merged municipalities. We regard the reform as a quasi-experiment and compare trends in merged and non-merged municipalities in order to examine the effect of size on political trust. Because trust in both the national government and local government could be affected by the reform, but only the local government changes in size, we compare trust in the two levels in order to separate the effects of size from the effects of reform in itself. Unlike results from studies of a similar reform in Denmark, we do not find evidence that the Local Government Reform has had significant negative effects on political trust. We argue that the likely reason for the difference between the Danish and Norwegian findings may be differences in the procedural aspects of the two reforms, but also that previous studies may not have been able to separate the effect of the reform process from the effect of size as such.
Saglie, Jo (2022). Stabilitet i en ustabil tid: status for partilag og lister. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2022). Lokalvalget i 2019: Nasjonale trender og lokale variasjoner. Full text in Research Archive
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel & Saglie, Jo (2022). Antisámism in Norway. Experiences of individually and collectively targeted ethnic hostility. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo; Solvang, Øystein & Winsvold, Marte Slagsvold (2022). Does municipal amalgamation affect trust in local politicians? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this paper, we explore to what extent the Norwegian Local Government Reform of the 2010s affected local political trust. We regard a large-scale municipal amalgamation reform as a quasi-experiment, which makes it possible to compare trends in merged and non-merged municipalities, and thereby separate the effects of changes in size from other trends. We use data from the Norwegian Local Election Studies of 2011 and 2019 (before and at the time of the merger), and compare the development of trust in both local and national politicians in 1) unmerged municipalities, 2) ‘senior partners’ in merged municipalities, and 3) ‘junior partners’ in merged municipalities. Unlike earlier studies from Denmark, we do not find strong evidence that the Local Government Reform has had significant negative effects on political trust. We argue that a possible reason for the difference between the Danish and Norwegian findings is that previous studies have not been able to separate the effect of the reform process from the effect of size as such. The reforms were implemented differently in the two countries, with potentially different consequences for political trust.
Christensen, Dag Arne; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2021). Lokalvalget 2019: Et fremoverskuende valg? In Saglie, Jo; Segaard, Signe Bock & Christensen, Dag Arne (Ed.), Lokalvalget 2019: Nye kommuner - nye valg?. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 9–25. doi: 10.23865/noasp.134.ch1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This introductory chapter presents some general features of the Norwegian Local Election Study of 2019. First, we take a close look at the conditions that shaped the 2019 local elections, especially the municipal amalgamation reform. The number of municipalities – 428 at the time of the 2015 local elections – had been reduced to 356 for the 2019 elections, and as a result, many voters cast their votes in a new, merged political unit – yet prior to the actual merger’s implementation. Next, we briefly review the history of the Norwegian Local Election Studies and then present the chapters in the book. The subsequent sections include a more detailed description of the data material on which the book is based and the voter survey in particular. We conclude with some reflections on the way ahead for Norwegian local election research
Saglie, Jo (2021). The Nordic Sámi Parliaments: cases of non-territorial autonomy. Full text in Research Archive
Bergh, Johannes; Rommetvedt, Hilmar; Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2021). Hva kan vi lære av valget i 2019? Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2021). Hva skjedde ved lokalvalget i 2019? Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2021). Politiske skillelinjer og politisk avstand ved sametingsvalg. Full text in Research Archive
Saglie, Jo (2021). Politiske skillelinjer og politisk avstand ved sametingsvalg. Full text in Research Archive
Segaard, Signe Bock; Kjær, Ulrik & Saglie, Jo (2021). Why are there More Female Local Councillors in Norway than in Denmark? A Crack in the Nordic gender equality model. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The paper analyses the gender balance in municipal councils in Norway and Denmark, starting from the observation that women are better represented in Norway than in Denmark (40.5 % vs. 32.9 %). The comparative case study of Norway and Denmark offers a most-similar-system-design, as these two countries are similar on most relevant parameters, such as local government systems, electoral systems, party systems, and societal gender equality, but deviate on the dependent variable of women’s representation. To explore the reasons, we analyse two unique comparative data sets 1) Complete data of all local candidates of the Norwegian 2019 municipal elections and the Danish 2017 municipal elections. 2) Data from representative voter surveys in both countries. We conclude that structural explanations related to municipal structure, the electoral system and party system do not appear relevant. On the other hand, the parties’ candidate selection matters. Why, then, are Norwegian parties more concerned with gender balance than their Danish counterparts? From an international perspective, both Norway and Denmark are regarded as part of a ‘Nordic gender equality model’. However, the two countries seem to differ regarding the role of gender equality on the political agenda and in the public debate. While gender equality continues to be on the societal agenda in Norway, this is not to the same extent the case in Denmark. This is also reflected in the practice of the political parties.
Segaard, Signe Bock; Kjær, Ulrik & Saglie, Jo (2021). Why are there More Female Local Councillors in Norway than in Denmark? A Crack in the Nordic gender equality model. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The paper analyses the gender balance in municipal councils in Norway and Denmark, starting from the observation that women are better represented in Norway than in Denmark (40.5 % vs. 32.9 %). The comparative case study of Norway and Denmark offers a most-similar-system-design, as these two countries are similar on most relevant parameters, such as local government systems, electoral systems, party systems, and societal gender equality, but deviate on the dependent variable of women’s representation. To explore the reasons, we analyse two unique comparative data sets 1) Complete data of all local candidates of the Norwegian 2019 municipal elections and the Danish 2017 municipal elections. 2) Data from representative voter surveys in both countries. We conclude that structural explanations related to municipal structure, the electoral system and party system do not appear relevant. On the other hand, the parties’ candidate selection matters. Why, then, are Norwegian parties more concerned with gender balance than their Danish counterparts? From an international perspective, both Norway and Denmark are regarded as part of a ‘Nordic gender equality model’. However, the two countries seem to differ regarding the role of gender equality on the political agenda and in the public debate. While gender equality continues to be on the societal agenda in Norway, this is not to the same extent the case in Denmark. This is also reflected in the practice of the political parties.
Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2020). Lokaldemokratiets legitimitet - tillit,deltakelse og ulikhet. Avsluttende drøftelse. In Segaard, Signe Bock (Eds.), Det norske lokaldemokratiets legitimitet. Tillit, deltakelse og ulikhet. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. p. 96–114. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Hvor mye «goodwill» i form av legitimitet og folkets tillit har lokaldemokratiet, dets aktører og institusjoner egentlig å gå på? I denne rapporten belyser vi, ved hjelp av forskjellige perspektiver og et omfattende datamateriale, ulike aspekter ved politisk tillit og demokratisk legitimitet. Premisset vårt er at hvis demokratiet – og det lokale selvstyret mer spesifikt – skal fungere i praksis, må det ha oppslutning i befolkningen. På denne måten handler rapporten om grunnlaget for lokalpolitisk legitimitet og tillit, slik det ligger ikke bare i sosial og politisk (u)likhet i deltakelse og representasjon, men også i de systemer, medvirkningsstrukturer og prosesser som eksisterer i demokratiet, særlig på lokalt nivå. Rapporten retter søkelyset mot spesifikke problemstillinger knyttet til politisk og sosial (u) likhet i deltakelse og politisk tillit som så belyses gjennom empiriske analyser ut fra ulike perspektiver: innbyggerperspektiv, politikerperspektiv, systemperspektiv og prosessperspektiv. Hensikten er å forsøke å forstå generelle mønstre i utviklingen og statusen for den lokalpolitiske legitimiteten og tilliten: Hva skyldes disse mønstrene, og hvilke konsekvenser har de? Det er ikke mulig å gi entydige svar og ei heller å belyse alle årsaker og konsekvenser, men i denne rapporten vil noen av disse bli undersøkt og drøftet nærmere. Avslutningsvis samles trådene, og legitimiteten til det norske demokrati anno 2020 – og lokaldemokrati spesielt – drøftes.
Saglie, Jo & Segaard, Signe Bock (2020). Tilliten til politikerne faller mest blant dem som har minst av den. p. 24–25. Full text in Research Archive

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Published May 19, 2017 4:33 PM - Last modified June 18, 2026 1:22 PM

Jo Saglie

Political scientist working on local democracy, Indigenous politics and political parties

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