Twinning in perspective

Findings from the VNG research and questions that remain about twinning form a basis for the theoretical angle in this research. As mentioned before, I am interested in the effectiveness of these relationships. From my initial encounter with twinning (Haarlem-Mutare) I got the impression that things were organized slightly informally. This was just an impression and does not say anything valid about the real situation, but it did make me wonder: what goals do municipalities involved in twinning relationships have? Furthermore; do they live up to their goals and meet standards? To be precise: are twinning relationships effective? Additionally, I am interested in cultural aspects of twinning relationships; what is it that municipalities label as culture? Do people involved think of culture in a broad sense or is culture seen in the specific sense with a focus on the arts? This justifies my focus on cultural twinning relationships. Within the framework of this thesis, this results in the following research question: With regard to twinning, are cultural municipal relationships in the Netherlands effective? Besides effectiveness I would like to research efficiency as well. Anticipating the available data within involved organizations, I am not sure whether there will be sufficient information to give a judgment on efficiency.