ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some general characteristics of local identities as they are perceived by our interviewees in both municipalities. The subsequent chapters then analyse how local identities are used in the local politics of Goeree-Overflakkee (Chapter 5) and in Katwijk (Chapter 6). This chapter shows that in the local population there is a widespread agreement on what characterises their local identity, but that they differ widely in their valuation of this identity. This positive or negative opinion influences their behaviour towards their local identity; many want to protect it, while others want to change it. This is an important driving force in local politics, which becomes even more important, as we will see in Chapters 5 and 6, when the different ways in which local identities are used during and after municipal amalgamations are analysed.
