Neighborhood-representing organizations: how democratic are they?

Publication year: 
1991

Neighborhood-representing organizations (NROs) are generally viewed as the most authentic form of citizen participation and local democracy. In this article, the author questions how democratic NROs actually are, both on the local level (participatory democracy) and in the external arena (representative democracy). He presents a new conceptual model of the components of democracy in neighborhood organizations. A review of the literature is presented within the context of this model to show to what extent NROs are democratic. The findings indicate that the level of democracy in NROs is questionable and that the "iron law of oligarchy" is valid for this type of organization. The problem of low participatory and representative democracy is addressed, and implications for research and practice are discussed.

Source publication information
Journal Title: 
Social service review
Volume: 
Vol. 65, no. 4
Pages: 
614-34
Publisher
Available at IDS for reference

How to find this resource

Shelfmark in IDS Resource Centre
D : Governance : Civil society participation in governce 4157
Post date: 01/01/2000 - 00:00