About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

15 Comp. Pol. Stud. 3 (1982-1983)

handle is hein.journals/compls15 and id is 1 raw text is: Dutch action groups are related to the single-issue groups and citizens' movements of other advanced industrial societies. They are characterized by concentration on a single issue, the use of direct action to mobilize public opinion, and relatively intense but brief lives as organized political forces. Action groups are among the few channels of direct political participation available in a highly institutionalized representative democracy. This article uses survey evidence from the mass public and from local and national elites to see if Dutch action groups are an effective channel of direct participation. For several reasons, it turns out that they are not: (1) Although action group participation is one of the more common forms of Dutch political activity, it is a channel used mainly by young middle-class leftists. (2) There is considerable mistrust of action groups by both mass and elite. This is due primarily to disapproval of demonstrations and direct action tactics. (3) As a result, political elites are unresponsive to action group demands. This is particularly true at the national level; the evidence suggests that action groups are somewhat more influential at the municipal level. Action groups must win the confidence of the conservative portion of the population if they are to become the effective channels of direct political participation that they have the potential to be. This would be a desirable development from the viewpoint of decreasing the distance between citizen and government. DIRECT DEMOCRACY OR ORGANIZED FUTILITY? Action Groups in the Netherlands THOMAS R. ROCHON Princeton University E mpirical instances of sovereign governments which practice direct democracy have not existed for centuries. They have met the same fate as the dinosaurs, but for the opposite reason: Whereas dinosaurs were too big to survive in their environment, direct democracies need to AUTHOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this article waspresentedat the 1979 meeting of the American Political Science Association. COMPARATIVE POLITICAL STUDIES, Vol. 15 No. 1, April 1982 3-28 @ 1982 Sage Publications, Inc. 3 from the SAGE Social Science Collections. All Rights Reserved.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most