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

Figure 8-1 displays the relationship between the governance indicator and a society’s
level of elite-challenging activism. There is a positive link between Voice and
Accountability and the level of elite-challenging activism in a society (r = 0.67 *** ), with
convergence at higher values of the governance indicator. Whereas at lower to medium
levels of a democratic opportunity structure, only a marginal effect with respect to the
spread of political activism can be observed, high scores on Voice and Accountability are
closely associated with high levels of participation in petitions, boycotts and strikes. This
suggests that improvements at lower levels of democratic freedom rights do not
immediately translate into widespread non-institutionalized mass action. Rather, high
levels of elite-challenging participation can be found in societies that provide stable and
conducive conditions to associate, assemble and articulate opinions.
Democracy Stock
For political opportunity structures to become effective it is not only important how much
freedom rights are granted to the citizens today, but also for how long these have been in
place. The longer citizens experience a democratic rule, the more occasions are created
for political participation, and the more time citizens have to experiment with various
forms of participation (Roller and Wessels 1996: 28). “The core insight is that
institutional effects unfold over time, sometimes a great deal of time, and that these
temporal effects are cumulative.” (Gerring et al. 2005: 325). The measure of Democracy
Stock takes this accumulation process of democratic experience into account, as
democracy is considered as a stock – not level – variable (Gerring et al. 2005: 324).
Polity 2 scores are added, beginning in 1900, with a 1 percent depreciation rate per year.
Figure 8-2 shows how Democracy Stock and elite-challenging activities are linked: There
is a positive, almost linear relationship (r = .73 *** ), meaning that societies with a longstanding
‘democratic memory’ tend to have a more active citizenry. The length of
democratic experience is crucial when it comes to creating political opportunity
structures for elite-challenging activities, but there are also clear ‘over-achievers’, most
of them post-communist societies. Their level of elite-challenging action still reflects the
legacy of a citizen-driven transition to democracy, whereas their actual democratic
experience falls short in predicting this form of mass participation.
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