L4 - Political Participation & Culture Flashcards
What is the definition of Political Participation
Political Participation: A range of activities aiming to influence the selection of political leaders and/or the political decisions of these leaders (e.g. voting, petition, demonstrations, boycott, assassinations, terrorist acts). It establishes a link between the mass public, citizens and the political elite.
What are forms of Political Participation?
- Voting
- Petitioning
- Protest/Demonstration
- Boycott, Assassination and Terrorism
What are the modes of Political Participation?
1) Conventional Vs Unconventional
- Conventional: Held in widely recognised political channels (complaining to you member of parliament)
- Unconventional: Takes place outside the recognised political channels (joining a protest movements)
2) Legal vs illegal:
- Legal: Within legal boundaries/codified by law (voting, lobbying, writing petitions)
- Illegal: Not codified by law, but is sometimes tolerated (boycotting companies, sit-ins, and more extremely, terrorism and assassination).
4) Low key vs Intensive:
- Low key: Low effort (voting, passive activism)
- Intensive: High effort (active activism)
Give a brief explanation of voting
- Specify if it’s:
conventional or unconventional
Legal or illegal
Low key or intensive
Voting: Perhaps the most important type of political participation in representative democracies (national, local/regional, European elections). It is conventional (established channels), legal (not sanctioned by laws, registration) and low key (from the citizen’s viewpoint).
What is voter turnout?
&
Why is it important ?
- Meaning of High vs Low turnout
Voter turnout refers to the percentage of people who are eligible to vote and actually do so.
Voter turnout is important because it allows politicians and political observer to measure how healthy the democracy is.
- High turnout signals an engaged and healthy democracy.
- Low turnout may suggest disinterest or lack of faith in the political process.
What are the trends of voter turnout in the recent years?
- A global downturn the number of people participating in elections from the1990s (with slight exceptions in Africa and Asia).
- A major downward trend with significant lows affecting all representative democracies. To fight this, governments have tried mobilising people to vote through:
● Cartoons.
● The implementation of specific methods to increase voter turnout (e.g. 2014
EU parliament elections ‘Spitzenkandidaten’).
Cross- country variation with significant differences in voter turnouts
(e.g.high=
Australia, Belgium, while low = Poland, Switzerland).
How can we explain variation in voter turnout levels ?
Institutional Arrangement and Competitiveness of elections
What are types of Institutional Arrangement?
1) Compulsory Voting: Citizens are legally required to vote in elections, regardless of their personal preference or interest in politics. If a citizens fails to vote without a valid excuse, he may face penalties such as fines or other legal sanctions.
Ex: Belgium, Luxembourg, Australia
Debate exists on whether voting is a public good/duty to participate or if citizen should have the right to not participate.
2) Registration Requirement: Citizens are required to register prior to voting (in some states)
- Research shows registration requirement in USA is obstacles to turnout
3) Electoral Systems: The voter turnout depends on the country’s electoral system.
- A country with a proportional representation (PR) electoral system = high voter turnout
- A country with Majoritarian systems electoral system = low voter turnout
Competitiveness of elections
- Policy difference between parties can influence competitiveness of elections: Populist trends may explain small growth in voter turnout
- Second-order elections (e.g. European Parliament) tend to have lower turnout compared to national elections where decision-makers are elected
How can we explain downward trends in Political Participation?
1) Sift to new (unconventional) forms of participation.
- Citizens are more likely to join demonstrations and protests rather than joining a political party - Social media increases political knowledge and mobilization in demonstrations, but not necessarily overall participation
2) Changes in political culture: there are popular and problematic cultural explanations for political participation.
3) The Alternative Angle: People are decreasing their political participation because of increasing disillusionment and distrust in government
What is Political Culture?
The sum of individual values and norms regarding politics and political systems.
What are two main issues in political culture ?
Compactness/ Cohesion of culture: The norms have to be common to a group of people
→ There may be some differences that are much larger at the local level than at the national level.
(ex: Dutch pol. culture)
Mass versus elite culture: Elites have different attitudes than the mass
→ It is often mistaken that the elite political culture is the main social political culture.
What are cultural explanations of political participation?
- Theory of interpersonal trust (theory of social capital)
- Theory of post-materialism:
Explain the theory of interpersonal trust (theory of social capital)
- What is it’s central argument ?
The theory of interpersonal trust, also known as the theory of social capital, argues that:
A political culture characterized by strong interpersonal trust is beneficial for democratic performance and political participation.
it generates diffuse support for democracy & it increases propensity for collective action
Explain the theory of post-materialism
The theory of post-materialism is also referred to as the “Silent Revolution” and argues that:
There’s a shift in mass attitudes in post-war Western societies from materialist values to post-materialist values.
This shift in values is characterized by a focus on issues such as self-expression, quality of life, and the environment, rather than material or economic concerns.
