Up close and personal: how size affects politics in 65 Greek island municipalities

Tsagkroni, V.; Veenendaal, W.P. (2025)

Article / Letter to editor

To better understand the functioning of subnational politics, knowledge of size effects is indispensable. By means of a mixed-methods analysis of elections in 65 Greek island municipalities, this paper examines the effects of size on a wide range of democratic outcomes in a new, underexplored context. Our quantitative analysis is complemented by a comparative investigation of the neighbouring municipalities of Chios (population 54,000) and Psara (population 460). We find that smaller municipalities have higher levels of participation, lower levels of competition, and a greater presence of independent candidates without party labels. On the other hand, we do not find evidence for an effect of size on the re-election of incumbents or the prevalence of clientelism.

• Size effects
• Greece
• Democracy
• Political competition
• Political participation
• Islands
• Mixed methods
• Local politics

• All authors: Tsagkroni, V.; Veenendaal, W.P.
• Date: 2025-02-10
• Journal: South European Society and Politics
• Pages: 1 - 29
• DOI: doi:10.1080/13608746.2025.2455769
• Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13608746.2025.2455769?src=