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

Figure 6-5 takes up the trend depictions of the previous chapter, documenting how the
two forms of civic activism have developed over a time period of 20 years compared to
elite-challenging activities. Unfortunately, longitudinal data are not available for all
voluntary associations included so far. For a comparison over time, activity in citizen
action groups is limited to social welfare organizations, youth work groups and human
rights organizations. A factor analysis confirmed that the conceptual differentiation
between interest organizations and citizen action groups is still valid for the reduced
measure (see Appendix A6-4).
Figure 6-5 shows the rise of elite-challenging activities in established postindustrial
democracies, and this increase is even more impressive when displayed against the other
two forms of political activism. During the 1980ies and 1990ies participation in
demonstrations, petitions or boycotts increased by 20 percent points to a level where, on
average, two thirds of the populations use these forms of activity.
Figure 6-5: Elite-Challenging Activities and Civic Activism in Selected
Postindustrial Democracies 1981-1999 (WVS/EVS)
70
Elite-challenging activities
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1981 1990 1999
Citizen action groups
Interest organizations
Source: World Values Survey/European Values Survey. Data are weighted n = 1.000.
Societies included: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden,
Great Britain, Northern Ireland, USA, West Germany.
By contrast, people’s engagement in voluntary associations showed only minor
fluctuation over time, largely staying at the same level: below 10 percent for active
membership in associations for interest representation, and a little above 10 percent for
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