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

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Civil society
• local governments
• contacts
• influence
• Sweden

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In Sweden, the municipalities vary greatly in size, both in terms of physical territory and population; they range from approximately 2,000 inhabitants to close to 1,000,000. In general, the municipalities in the northern parts of Sweden cover more geographical area but are more sparsely populated, while municipalities in the central and southern parts of the country tend to be smaller but have higher population density.

2. Three extreme values of 12,500 members and above were excluded from the analysis.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Susanne Wallman Lundåsen

Susanne Wallman Lundåsen is an associate professor of political science at the Centre for Local Government Studies at Linköping University, Sweden. Her research focuses on civil society, political participation, and the relationship between quality of government and social trust in Swedish municipalities. Her research has previously appeared in journals including Governance, the Journal of Elections, Parties and Public Opinion, Scandinavian Political Studies, and the Swiss Political Science Review.