Yes, the nested class, or inner class can ACCESS the containing or outer class as shown in the example below. Nested types can access private and protected members of the containing type, including any INHERITED private or protected members.

USING SYSTEM;
namespace Nested
{
class ContainerClass
{
string OuterClassVariable = "I am an outer class variable";
public class InnerClass
{
ContainerClass ContainerClassObject = NEW ContainerClass();
string InnerClassVariable = "I am an Inner class variable";
public InnerClass()
{
Console.WriteLine(ContainerClassObject.OuterClassVariable);
Console.WriteLine(this.InnerClassVariable);
}
}
}
class Demo
{
public static void Main()
{
ContainerClass.InnerClass nestedClassObj = new ContainerClass.InnerClass();
}
}
}

Yes, the nested class, or inner class can access the containing or outer class as shown in the example below. Nested types can access private and protected members of the containing type, including any inherited private or protected members.

using System;
namespace Nested
{
class ContainerClass
{
string OuterClassVariable = "I am an outer class variable";
public class InnerClass
{
ContainerClass ContainerClassObject = new ContainerClass();
string InnerClassVariable = "I am an Inner class variable";
public InnerClass()
{
Console.WriteLine(ContainerClassObject.OuterClassVariable);
Console.WriteLine(this.InnerClassVariable);
}
}
}
class Demo
{
public static void Main()
{
ContainerClass.InnerClass nestedClassObj = new ContainerClass.InnerClass();
}
}
}