class 4 - political participation and culture Flashcards
political participation
= range of political activities that link citizens to political elites/leaders
you need some sort of political participation for representative democracy to survive and prosper
e.g.
- voting
- petitions
- demonstrations/protests
- boycott (political/consumer)
- assasinations
- terrorist acts
*(downward trend in political party & trade union participation + voter turnout)
(interesting questions about political participation)
- how much political participation is necessary for demo. to function?
- do all people have to participate at all times?
*many scholars argue that they don’t - why is it that young voters take part in protests, whilst older voters don’t? (cross-sectional)
- why is there a difference in participation in diff countries?
modes of political participation
3 distinctions
conventional and unconventional
the locus: where does it take place?
- conventional is through established democratic channels (e.g. voting, contacting MP)
- unconventional is not (e.g. joining extinction rebellion)
legal and illegal
the status of the activity
- legal = codified, regulated by law (e.g. voting, lobbying, petitions)
- illegal = not codified, but tolerated or not tolerated (e.g. assassinations, terrorism)
low key and intensive
the amount of effort
- low key = little effort
- intensive = more effort
voting / electoral turnout is:
(modes of participation)
- conventional
- legal
- low key (in most systems require little effort to vote)
! in some systems so many elections that voting is not so low key
2 key questions about voting
- What explains voters’ choices? (lecture 6)
- What explains electoral turnout?
these questions need to be asked/answered by polsci
voter turnout
global and European trends
since 1990s gradual decline (on the aggregate level)
average turnouts cross-country also differ: over long periods of time country A more turnout than country B
!also variations in turnout with different types of elections (e.g. national elections in general more turnout than European Parliament elections)
also big variations in terms of regimetypes (new democracies lower rates than established democracies?)
in Europe:
- established democr. gradual decline
- post-communist parties 90s fast downward trend, now slower trend
BUT: strong cross-national differences in turnout (global scale)
the problem with voting turnout + solutions
often viewed as indicator for the health of a democracy , now decline in turnout -> democracies seen as less healthy?
- before elections, state-funded gov. campaign to incite voting
- ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ (2014 EU elections): they presented top-choice candidates, to make it more personal (candidate against candidate), with the hope that more people would vote
!did not work (at least short-term): 2014 EU turnout was lowest ever
*often: people that don’t vote are people who’s problems aren’t really addressed by politics, it is important that they vote if they want change
explaining variation in turnout levels
Institutional Arrangements: the way people have to vote influences incentives for people to vote
- compulsory voting
(e.g. Australia, Luxemburg and Belgium have high participation) - registration requirements
(e.g. USA you have to preregister in order to be able to vote (aka: 2step voting) + diff. states have diff rules for how to register)
*USA turnout among those that have registered is higher
*poor, badly educated have trouble registering, has led to exclusion - electoral systems (next lecture)
Competitiveness of elections
how competitive they are, plays a role in if people feel they have to turn up
- policy differences between parties
(more differences -> more turnout)
(if parties look alike, people are less likely to vote, they can’t distinguish)
*e.g. populism leads to more turnout as there is more competition - second order elections
(voters care less about some types of elections, second order elections e.g. not for their own gov. (but e.g. EU))
!there are much more drivers in the research, these are the key factors
compulsory voting
- still variation in turnout
in some countries this is enforced, in others not
- e.g. fines (Belgium has compulsory voting, otherwise you get a fine, but it is not really enforced (nobody cares))
Italy: until 1993 compulsory voting, level of voting participation still remains relatively high (almost as if compulsory voting still exists)
- may indicate that institutions have a sticky holding: they remain even if they are abolished
e.g. countries with compulsory voting: Singapore, Belgium, Luxemburg, Australia
political culture definition
= sum of individual values and norms regarding politics and political systems
issues in political culture
-
compactness or cohesion of culture
attitudes and norms have to be common to a very large group of people
*what we say about a (cultural) group is often not true for every individual -> sometimes doesn’t make sense to talk about one culture, and we need to speak about sub-cultures -
mass versus elite culture: are often not the same norms/attitudes, often conclusions of a country’s political culture is based on observation of the elite rather than the mass
e.g. Scandinavian culture gender equality: often we look at equality at the elite level (how many female MP e.g.)
!!political culture is a complicated concept, to establish/analyse political culture you need to look at both macro and micro level
explanations variation in turnout levels
- shifts to new (unconventional) forms of participation
*esp. since Arab Spring (media activism) recognized in polsci
*Kopecky: does not fully replace/explain decrease conventional turnout - changes in political cultures
Huntington
cultures rather than countries would become the leading source of political conflict 21st century + end of cold war would mean shift in focus from a battle of ideologies to a clash of civilizations -> pol. cult. has escaped national moorings to embrace wider identities
identified 7 or 8 civilizations with contradictory worldviews with little room for compromise
!this thesis was widely criticized: where do we see these grand clashes + criticism portrayal of permanent conflict western and islam (+defining these two as homogenous)
cultural explanations of political participation
- importance of interpersonal trust (not elaborated much in the book)
- theory of post-materialism
theory of interpersonal trust
(social capital)
basic premise:
- political culture characterized by strong interpersonal trust is good for democratic performance and political participation
micro level much interpersonal trust -> macropolitical level more participation
importance of interpersonal trust =
- generates diffuse support for democracy (political trust): if people trust each other, they are more likely to trust the political system
- increases propensity for collective action (political participation) : the more people trust each other, the more likely it is that they participate, that they work/discuss/participate together
(two books: the civic culture (Almond and Verba) + making democracy work (Putnam))
low interpersonal trust = low political trust
low political (or interpersonal) trust = low political participation
!!this relation is only strong in Western European countries
