Patterns of civil society organisations’ attempts to influence local politicians and local civil servants

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study aims to analyse these tensions and investigate the importance of the local political context with regard to the ability of local civil society organisations to influence local politicians and local public administrators. This paper contributes new knowledge on the question of what types of relational and contextual factors affect the outcome of attempts to exert influence in local communities. The study investigates whether the connectedness of organisations and the local political context matter. This study uses data from a national survey distributed to a random sample of 740 voluntary associations around Sweden. The survey focused on local civil societies’ attempts to influence Swedish decision-makers and public policy at a local level. The present study uses this data to addresses the possibility of a mutual relationship between civil society organisations and local political organisations and test whether contextual factors, such as the longevity of the current political majority, have any impact on the ability of civil society organisations to exert political influence. The results indicate that civil society organisations that have ongoing cooperative relationships with local governments seem to also have a more privileged position in terms of influencing both local civil servants and local politicians. The results also indicate that those local politicians that operate in municipalities that are governed by broad coalitions tend to be less responsive.