Wegen naar macht: de politieke participatie en toegang van het maatschappelijk middenveld op lokaal niveau

Abstract

This article is concerned with the description and explanation of political activities of local non-profit organisations on the basis of an empirical study in the city of Zwolle, the Netherlands. Attention is devoted to (1) the political participation of these organisations (2) the access of these organisations to the political system (3) the relation between participation and access. Two factors turn out to have a significant positive effect on the participation of organisations: centrality in the local organisational network and being involved in executing local policies. Furthermore, results show the local political system to be reasonably accessible: there is a strong correlation between political participation and access; in addition participation is the most important determinant of access.