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

This conclusion is supported by the fact that the linkage (and so the discrimination
between these two groups) is strongest in those societies that show a low or modest
participation in elections (see Figure 6-1: Switzerland, UK, Czech Republic,
Luxembourg), suggesting that the smaller active parts in a society tend to engage using
multiple channels of political activism.
6.2 Conventional Participation
As Verba, Nie and Kim (1971, 1978) and Barnes and Kaase et al. (1979) have argued
there are three modes of political participation besides voting: Campaign activity,
communal activity (working with a group in the community) and contacting officials.
This differentiation is supported by a factor analysis based on the ESS data, revealing a
similar structure both in Western and Eastern Europe (see Appendix A6-1). Now, Figure
6-2 shifts the perspective to conventional forms of political participation, relating those
levels in a society to its levels of elite-challenging activities. Conventional participation is
displayed at the y-axis, indicating the percentage of people who have participated in at
least one of the four activities during the past 12 months:
- Contacted a politician, government or local official
- Worked in a political party or action group
- Donated money to a political organization or group
- Worked in another organization or association.
These four activities relate to Verba et al.’s modes of democratic participation as working
for a political party or action group as well as donating money can be considered as
campaign activities whereas working in other organizations is a form of communal
activity (see also Dalton 2002).
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