Storstadssatsningen och dess effekter på valdeltagande i kommunala val: Framgång eller misslyckande?

Sammanfattning: In 1998 the Swedish Socialist Government initiated a project in order to promote economic growth and to end the discriminating social and ethnic segregation in the greater city regions of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. One of the goals of the project was and still is to promote political participation in 24 of the poorest areas of the three cities. In a quantitative analysis I evaluate whether or not the project so far has been successful in promoting a specific part of political participation, i.e. electoral participation in communal elections. The results of the 24 poor city areas are compared with a group of 14 likewise poor city areas of major swedish cities. According to my hypothesis, general improvements of the socio-economic status of poor city areas ought to generate positive effects on electoral participation in communal elections. I found that electoral participation increased in 13 of the 24 poor city areas included in the project. However, electoral participation also increased in 7 of the 14 areas of the control group. Consequently, it is impossible to prove statistically that the project so far has brought about general positive effects on electoral participation in the 24 poor city areas. My hypothesis was falsified.