Political participation

Question 1

What is insider participation?

Answer 1

• Voting
• Membership/ active involvement of political parties or groups
• Seeking help or contacting political actors
• Advocacy, lobbying and campaigning

Question 2

What is outsider participation?

Answer 2

• Organising a group
• Demonstrations and strikes
• Consumer boycotts
• civil disobedience
• signing petitions

Question 3

What are the reasons to participate?

Answer 3

• to acheive democracy
• to realise the collective good
• To fulfil citizenship
• to hold power to account
• to effect change

Question 4

What examples of there of depoliticisation?

Answer 4

• Consistent voter turnout decline since 1975 in OECD (Hay, 2005)
• lower voting particiaption in younger people
• steep decline in party membership in OECD countries (Putnam, 2002)

Question 5

Reasons voting should be compulsory?

Answer 5

• Increased participation
• Greater legitimacy
• Civic duty
• Countering social disadvantage

Question 6

Reasons voting shouldn’t be compulsory?

Answer 6

• Abuse of freedom
• Cosmetic democracy
• Worthless votes
• Distorted political focus

Question 7

Reasons for voting at 16?

Answer 7

• 1.5 mil 16-17 year olds
• Believe it will engage ad inspire young people to become involved in politics
• Recognises that 16-17 year olds can have a range of responsibilities and be able to vote

Question 8

Why are referendums good?

Answer 8

• check on power
• Increase participation
• Increase legitimacy
• Decide on major constitutional issues

Question 9

Why are referendums bad?

Answer 9

• Agneda can be manipulated
• distort and simplify complex issues to yes/no
• only a snapshot of public opinion

Question 10

What are the ways of influencing politics?

Answer 10

• advocacy
• lobbying
• campaigning

Question 11

what is lobbying?

Answer 11

strategic, formal and informal means of influencing specific decision makes on a specific issue aims to persuade

Question 12

what is campaigning?

Answer 12

actions, events and activities to achieve a chnage and to raise awareness on a specific issue working more widely across organised groups or people

Question 13

what is advocacy?

Answer 13

actions that aim to change attitudes, policies and practices, aims to increase public attention

Question 14

what are communal groups?

Answer 14

membership is based on birth rather than recruitment; founded on the basis of shared heritage, loyalties and traditional bonds

Question 15

what are institutional groups?

Answer 15

groups that are part of the machinery of government working to exert influence through that machinery; no autonomy or independence

Question 16

what are associational groups?

Answer 16

groups that come together to pursue shared, but limited goals

Question 17

what are social movement groups?

Answer 17

motive to act springs largely from attitudes and aspirations of members

Question 18

what is Zald and McCarthy’s (1987) description of new social movements?

Answer 18

“usually interpreted as rational and instrumental actors, whose use of informal and unconventional means merely reflects the resources available to them”