Who Participates and is Successful in Local Community Initiatives

Most local democratic innovations provide additional channels for citizens to make themselves heard in the policy-making processes. But there is increasing attention for forms of civic participation where citizens engage in what might be called “do-it-yourself”- governance: forms in which citizens themselves initiate collective actions aimed at their common objectives. The aim of DIY-governance is not influencing political decisions made by public authorities, but creating “public value” by means of self-organization of groups of interested citizens. In this paper I explore three main questions a) how many Dutch citizens engage in these activities; b) who participates in such community initiatives; c) to what extent do various participants consider their initiatives to be successful. In answering the latter questions the success of participation is not only defined in terms of the attainment of the initiators’ common objectives, but also in terms of personal gratifications (e.g. personal development, extension of one’s network or excitement and fun) or improved relations with public authorities. These questions are answered using data from the 2018 Dutch Local Election Studies.