Direct Democracy or Organized Futility?

Abstract

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.