Voluntary Associations and Local Level Politics: Voluntary Associations as Sources of Political Capital?

Abstract

The paper investigates whether the local political context has an impact on the frequency of contacts between voluntary associations and local politicians. The study contains data from two different surveys, one directed towards the citizens of the four selected municipalities and the other directed towards local voluntary associations and it also contains qualitative interviews with local level politicians. One of the conclusions is that the stability of the political majority seems to matter for the perceived outcome of the contacts between voluntary associations and local politicians.

Keywords: Voluntary Associations, Civic Engagement, Local Politics, Civil Society, Political Opportunities Structure