Renters associations in the Netherlands are struggling with decreasing membership numbers and connecting with their constituency, threatening their ability to participate in- and shape policymaking...Show moreRenters associations in the Netherlands are struggling with decreasing membership numbers and connecting with their constituency, threatening their ability to participate in- and shape policymaking in a futureproof way (Raeflex, 2021; Terlingen, 2016). Yet renters organisations are expected to play a bigger part representing interests in policies regarding residential issues (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2022) and are perceived to have a mandate on behalf of ‘the renters’ (Terlingen 2016). In this paper, the relationship between membership involvement (x) and group accountability (y) will be investigated with a quantitative, deductive approach. It will be built on the (quantitative) frameworks by Fraussen et al., (2021) for ‘group accountability’ with dimensions of ‘information, discussion and consequence’ and Albareda (2018) for ‘member involvement’ with dimensions of ‘interaction, decision making and local chapters’. The case being investigated is five renters organisations of the housing corporation QuaWonen within the Krimpenerwaard (South-Holland). Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with the executive level of renters organisations. The research question posed is: ‘How does membership involvement affect group accountability from the perspective of the board members of renters organisations?’ Findings tentatively show that the ability of renters organisations to function as transmission belts, translating policy preferences of their members, is mainly limited by membership involvement. Members can experience barriers to involvement. Accountability is improved by involvement through by being informed, being able to discuss and asking questions.Show less
This thesis explores how unions in the Netherlands justify their chosen strategies to achieve their goals. Organisational pressure and their institutional role as labour representation has created...Show moreThis thesis explores how unions in the Netherlands justify their chosen strategies to achieve their goals. Organisational pressure and their institutional role as labour representation has created a situation in the Netherlands where unions have the need to pursue organisational goals next to policy goals. Through interviews with board members of the two largest Dutch trade unions, supplemented with data from newspaper interviews, this thesis analyses the strategic choices made by them. It shows that the larger union (FNV) follows the proposed expectations by pushing for organisational growth to maintain union influence and uses outsider strategies, in the form of campaigns, to appeal to potential members. CNV takes a different approach, focussing on providing services to their members to persuade people to join. This focus on collective or individual advocacy could be a trend, however more research is needed to confirm this. This study also found that both unions still heavily rely on insider strategies in pursuit of their policy goals. However, unions have less trust in the institutions through which this dialogue is facilitated. This can be accounted for through overuse of the advisory body and lack of implementation of the advisory opinions by the government.Show less
