ifo Dresden berichtet 6/2019

Volunteering and Tolerance Need Local Roots 

Four out of ten citizens in Germany feel particularly close to their local community. We show that this municipal identity plays a much more important role than national identity in terms of local social commitment and political attitudes. On average, citizens who feel strongly connected to their place of residence go to local elections more frequently, are more interested in politics, vote less frequently for populist parties and are more frequently involved in social associations and voluntary work in the local community. We do not find these effects among citizens with a high national identity.

Mona Förtsch and Felix Rösel