Participation and Democracy: Dynamics, Causes ... - Jacobs University

If it was true that elite-challenging activities went at the expense of other participation
forms and, in doing so, in the end contributed to an erosion of political activism, then at
least one of the three following propositions should be confirmed:
- Societies in which elite-challenging activities are widespread, other forms of political
participation should be low (negative relationship at the societal level).
- People who engage in elite-challenging activities should abstain from participating in
more institutionalized forms of activity (negative relationship at the individual level).
- As elite-challenging activities become more widespread over time, other forms of
civic engagement in these societies should, in return, decrease (diverging trends).
These propositions will be examined mainly on the basis of data from the European
Social Survey 2002. 42 It contains indicators for various forms of political participation,
and a factor analysis confirmed that voting and conventional participation are two distinct
modes of political activism (see Appendix A6-1). So, these forms of political
participation will be treated separately. Unfortunately, the ESS data do not allow for
comparisons over time. On the other hand, the World Values Survey/European Values
Survey does not contain comparable measures of participation in conventional activities,
such as attending political meetings, contacting politicians or campaigning, or a direct
account of electoral participation. However, the WVS/EVS asks their respondents about
institutionalized activism, measured by active membership in formal voluntary
associations. For some of these indicators a considerable time series of 20 years is
available.
6.1 Voting
In democracies, voting is by far the most common and frequently used form of political
participation. Still, there are differences between societies in the degree to which people
make use of their right to vote, among others depending on the frequency and variety of
42 The ESS 2002 includes the broadest range of questions on political and social participation, as it included
a module on “Citizenship, Involvement and Democracy”. For more information see the ESS website:
http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/ .
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