11) Forms of political participation

Question 1

What are the three dimensions of political orientation?

Answer 1

Cognitive (collecting information).
Affective (interest in politics).
Evaluative (evaluations of politicians).

Question 2

What is the paradox of collective action?

Answer 2

People see participation as costly and therefore they abstain from participating.

Question 3

What is the paradox of voting?

Answer 3

People see voting as costly and irrational, because there is a very small change that the individual vote can make a difference in the big picture.

Question 4

Which three different modes of political participation exist?

Answer 4

Social movements.
Interest organizations.
Political parties.

Question 5

How does Huntington & Nelson (1976) define political participation?

Answer 5

“By political participation we mean activity by private citizens designed to influence government decision-making”.

Question 6

How does Verba et al. (1995) define political participation?

Answer 6

“By political participation we refer simply to activity that has the intent or effect of influencing government action – either directly by affecting the making or implementation of public policy or indirectly by influencing the selection of people who make those policies”.

Question 7

What is conventional participation?

Answer 7

Participation through voting and donating money.

Question 8

What is unconventional participation?

Answer 8

Participation through boycotting a product and violent political protests.

Question 9

What are some of the solutions to the free-rider problem?

Answer 9

Political entrepreneurs.
Psychological benefits from collective action.
Misperception of true costs.
Social networks.

Question 10

Which four factors can explain why countries differ in voting turnout?

Answer 10

Socio-economic development.
Timing of enfranchisement.
Institutional mechanisms.
Income inequality.

Question 11

What are the three underlying mechanims for non-participation?

Answer 11

Alienation.
Apathy.
Contenment.

Question 12

What does ‘alienation’ means?

Answer 12

People are discontent about politics (they think that politicians only care about their own interests).

Question 13

What does ‘apathy’ means?

Answer 13

People are disinterest in politics.

Question 14

What does ‘contentment’ means?

Answer 14

The participation depends on how satisfied people are with the politicians.

Question 15

What does the relative power theory says on inequality and voting turnout?

Answer 15

Inequality depresses turnout for all citizens, but mostly the poor, because the rich has more political-influence.

Question 16

What does the conflict theory says on inequality and voting turnout?

Answer 16

Both the poor and rich has to vote in order to make use of their conflicting interests.

Question 17

What does the resource theory says on inequality and voting turnout?

Answer 17

The rich has more resources to participate, than the poor do, and therefore the poor does not participate as much.

Question 18

What defines a social movement?

Answer 18

Shared identity, belief and program.
Engaged in non-institutionalized collective action.
Informal network character.
A looser organization than interest groups.

Question 19

Which two strategies does social movements use (define them)?

Answer 19

Protests:
- Mobilizing people for protest events in the public sphere.

Information policy:
- Collecting credible information and deploying it strategically at carefully selected cites.

Question 20

When do social movements emerge (according to the classical model)?

Answer 20

Social movements emerge as an effect of historical events (e.g. a financial crisis).

Question 21

When do social movements emerge (according to the resource mobilization model)?

Answer 21

Social movements emerge, when the necessary conditions and resources are evaluable in the society.

Question 22

When do social movements emerge (according to the political process model)?

Answer 22

Social movements emerge, when the political structure grants the opportunity (political opportunity structure).

Question 23

What is the basis idea of the political opportunity structure?

Answer 23

The political opportunity structures influence the choice of protest strategies and the impact of social movements on their environment.

Question 24

How is the political proces model?

Answer 24

Broad socio-economic processes –> cognitive liberation –> social movement.