Ethnicity and political participation in the neighbourhood

Ethnicity and civic communities play an essential role in understanding political participation. However, the number of studies that focus on how ethnic neighbourhood context in the Netherlands affects these factors is limited. In this paper it is studied to what extent civic communities affect political participation and how ethnic neighbourhood composition moderates this effect among citizens in Rotterdam. The argument is made that political mobilization by civic communities, to make their members participate in politics, is stronger in neighbourhoods with high concentrations of ethnic minorities. To study this relationship between political participation, civic communities and ethnic neighbourhood composition the Wijkprofieldata 2009 and 2010 is used (N = 18615). Respondents with Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, Antillean and Surinam- migration backgrounds answered questions on whether they are active in the church, cultural organisations, politics and societal organisations. Combining this data with third-party neighbourhood contextual data allows me to answer the research question. The results show that ethnicity and participation in civic communities play a crucial role when it comes to political participation, yet the results indicate no effect of ethnic neighbourhood composition for citizens with a non-western migration background in Rotterdam. Some indications were found that civic communities might be even more influential for citizens with a non-western migration background than for natives.