This project aims to investigate the influence of multi-level governance (MLG) on the performance and quality of local democracy in Flanders. The Flemish political and administrative landscape is characterised by a multiplicity of levels and actors. The resulting complexity leads to challenges in terms of multi-level governance, the cooperation between different levels of government (local, provincial, regional, national and European). The following aspects are addressed: division of powers and autonomy (to what extent are municipalities and provinces able to take decisions independently without interference from higher levels of government?), democratic legitimacy (to what extent are decisions of higher levels of government perceived as legitimate by the ‘local’ level and by the local population? In other words, does the complexity of MLG not lead to a growing democratic deficit?), accountability and transparency (how is accountability achieved within the context of MLG? And to what extent do decision-making processes remain transparent, taking into account recent developments such as reference regions?), citizen participation (to what extent does MLG facilitate or prevent opportunities for citizen participation? In other words, when and in what context does scale constitute an asset or a problem for citizens to be/stay actively involved in policy at the local level?), efficiency, coordination and digital cooperation (what is the impact of the complexity, also known as 'verrommelling', of MLG on the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of local democracy? And what impact does the digital revolution – including AI – have on collaboration in terms of quality and efficiency?) and conflicts of interest (what tools are used to manage conflicts of interest between different actors, taking into account power asymmetry within MLG?). Although some aspects have already been examined, the policy effects of MLG have not yet been systematically investigated and recent developments (such as the regionalisation and the digitalisation of policy processes) have not yet been taken into account. On the basis of a mixed method design, which successively applies document analysis, process tracing and expert interviews, we test a conceptual model in which performance is operationalised as the extent to which municipal and provincial governments are able to carry out their tasks (administrative strength supplemented with analysis of objectives, means/instruments and evaluations) and the quality of local democracy as the interplay of transparency, participation, trust and satisfaction (among all stakeholders, i.e. citizens as well as local politicians and civil society actors).