Political participation and political trust in Amsterdam: Civic communities and ethnic networks

Civic Community, Political Participation and Political Trust of Ethnic Groups

“…The lower the index the higher the civic community score. Fennema and Tillie, 1999) We found that Turks in Amsterdam have many voluntary associations and these associations are well connected through a network of interlocking directorates. The Turkish community in Amsterdam is the most 'civic' of all ethnic communities, followed by the Moroccans, the Surinamese and finally the Antilleans that show the smallest degree of civic community when measured in terms of ethnic associations and their interlocking directorates.…”

“…And when we look at political trust, that is trust in political parties, the municipal council and in the Amsterdam civil servants, the Turks score highest, followed by the Moroccans, the Surinamese and, finally, the Antilleans (table 2). Fennema and Tillie, 1999) Turks show the highest degree of trust (compared to the other ethnic groups and also compared to the autochthonous population). Like in political participation, the Turks are followed by the Moroccans and Surinamese.…”

“…All these indicators show a stable rank-order: Turks score highest, followed by Moroccans, Surinamese and Antilleans. Tillie, 1998;Fennema and Tillie, 1999) Table 1 shows how dramatically voting turnout in Amsterdam dropped from 1994 to 1998 for all categories of voters. Turnout among Moroccan voters more than halves, Turkish voting decreases nearly 40 percent and the Surinamese and Antillean vote decreases with 30 percent.…”

“…Antilleans have the lowest degree of political trust. For more details we refer to Fennema and Tillie (1999).…”

“…However, in the 1998 elections turnout of all migrant groups declined, especially in Amsterdam. Nevertheless ethnic minorities in Amsterdam have still a relative high level of political participation when measured by other indicators (see Fennema and Tillie, 1999).…”