CONCEPT PAPER FOR TOPIC PRESENTATION

TOPIC: Political Participation

Source/Reference: Faulks, K. (2000). Political Sociology: A Critical Introduction (pp. 143-162)

Discussant(s): Sumugat, Ramon Sixto C.

Date of Presentation: January 23, 2018

A. Salient Points/Summary

 de Toqueville (1945) acknowledged that the state has the propensity to centralize
power, and consequently stressed the need for alternative civil and political
associations to balance and control power if liberty is to be preserved.
 The willingness of the citizens to participate in the governance of their lives is
important to a booming civil society.
 Participation is an expression of citizenship and is vital to the stimulation of a shared
political culture.
 Faulks (2000) defined political participation as the active engagement of individuals
and or groups in the governmental processes that affect their lives. This then includes
the individual’s involvement in both the decision-making processes of the
government as well as the opposition to such.
 Faulks (2000) then assumed that political participation is an active process because a
person may become a member of a party or a pressure group. He then distinguished
two kinds of active engagement, the conventional acts of political participation,
which includes activities such as voting, campaigning for a candidate or party and
running for an office. Another form of active engagement is the unconventional acts,
these acts include, signing of petitions, attending peaceful demonstrations, attending
violent protests and refusing to pay taxes.

Theories of Political Participation

 In this chapter, Keith Faulks identified three main theories in explaining political
participation: democratic elitism, rational choice theory and participatory theory.
 Democratic Elitism
 Schumpeter (1943) stressed the need for political stability and that democracy is
only a secondary priority. Schumpeter then added that enlightened leadership is
with only minimal acts of participation by the masses is the most efficient way
maintain order.
  Democratic elitists assumed that the masses are ignorant and apathetic enough
that extensive political participation will undermine stability. They added that, an
over-active citizenry is more likely to make an ill-considered short-termist and
poor policy decisions.
 Democratic elitists also assumed that to make a prudent government, policy
making should be given to those who are intellectually suited to the task and to
those who made politic their chosen career.
 Schumpeter postulated that masses lack the independence of mind to govern
themselves. He then supported the statement by arguing that it is hard for
democratic elitists to recognize that greater political participation of the masses
will lead to increased competence to govern would be to concede ground to the
advocates participatory democracy.

 Rational Choice Theory

 Olson (1971) and Downs (1957) assumed that the lack of willingness of to
participate of the majority is not a sign of ignorance but a sign of rationality.
 The question of rational individuals when they consider participating in a political
activity is: “What will I gain from this act of participation that I will not gain if I
don’t participate?”
 In the eyes of rational choice, non-participation is a rational option.
 Scholars of rational choice believes that, the mobilization of participants is based
on how they weigh the gains and the costs of participating.
 Rational choice theorists also assumed that individuals are more easily persuaded
to vote rather that to campaign for a particular candidate because, voting is a
relatively cost-free exercise rather than spending hours campaigning for a
particular politician or political party.
 Rational choice theorists assumed that political elites are more likely to
participate because they see the achievement of power and prestige in the end of
the day.
 Rational choice theorists believe that there is a clear distinction between rational
elites and ignorant masses.
 Participatory Theories
 Participatory theories have two guiding principles: Which they assumed that a
democratic country must have.
 Maximise the instances and intensity of participation by all members of
civil society.
 Increase areas of social life where democratic principles apply.
  For Barber (1984) Majority of individuals in democratic states are passive
receivers of decisions coming from the elites, rather than from the citizens whom
are actively participating in the shaping of politics.
 de Tocqueville argued that participation is a prerequisite of freedom.
 Barber (1984) offers a vision of new form of democracy as an argument to ‘thin
democracy’. He coined the term ‘Strong democracy’ where he assumed that
politics is “something done by” and not to the citizens. This then, translate to the
strengthening of the local governments and extension of democratic practice into
the institutions of the civil society.
 Barber (1984) then assumed that in strong democracies, participation is not only a
defense for the interests, but it is a deliberative and public process that does not
lay claim to any truth about what the citizens can consensually agree.
 Assessments on the main theories
 If individual self-interest is the only basis for political action, then how can we
explain the efforts exerted by citizens to be a voluntary member of any political
associations.
 Because rational choice’s origins can be traced from economic market exchange,
then it cannot be applied to the world of politics where we consider altruism,
ideology, social networks and citizenship in shaping a person’s behavior.
 The concept of ‘free riding’ of rational choice can be accepted only if we accept
the concept of abstract individualism.
 The biggest challenge for rational choice theory is on how it will question the
interaction of the notions of rationality and other motivational forces.
 If rational choice theorists believed that rationality is a factor of politics,
democratic elitists believed that only the significant few should govern.
 Democratic elitists believed that democracy is an unfinished project because its
development relies on the desire of the masses to have a hand in governing their
lives.
 Etzioni and Halevy (1993) stressed the importance of public participation for
democracy. They also put emphasis on the theories that advocated such
participation. However, they viewed it as a problem because it was very
minimalistic since it failed to further explain how western democracy works.
 Faulks (2000) stated that political participation is good in itself, because it is
something that people can get a part which they develop not only in the sphere of
their political competence and it can also forge links that form the civil society.
 Political Participation in Liberal Democracies
 Dalton (1996) found out in a survey that social change is one of the important
factors in the changing trends of political participation as he identified the
following:
 An increasingly and informed citizenry.
 A decline of trust in the effectiveness of political elites and
institutions.
 A decline in loyalty to political parties.
 A drop-in turnout rates during elections
 An increase in unconventional political participation.
 There are two factors in rising citizen’s awareness: first, there should be an
increase in the educational achievement most importantly in the higher education
and there must be a greater information supplied by mass media.
 Television has become an agent of political awareness. As supported by Dalton
(1996) he found out that 69% of the people in America cited television as their
most important source of information.
 Beck (1997) supported the assumption that mass media is now playing an
important role in shaping the political attitudes of people. He assumed that the
process of individualization whereby people are less likely to rely on institutions
such as churches and other associations in the civil society.
 However, Bennet (1997) did not fully agree with Beck’s assumption. He argued
that, although citizens may have the knowledge and the critical skills, there are
people who lacked understanding of the specifics of conventional politics.
 Pienaar (1997) stated that while the media uncovers controversies in the public
and private lives of politicians, the level of participation of every citizen also
decreases.
 Although there are discontents in the side of the public, scholars found out that
there is a shift from collective to individualistic democratic values.
 Political parties have been the most important political mediators between state
and civil society.
 Hirst and Khilnani (1996) found out that the foundations of political parties
become shallower and unstable.
 Kaase and Newton (1995) supports the findings of Hirst and Khilnani (1996)
when they postulated that the growing competence of the people has led to the
downfall of the political parties.
 Beck (1997) argued that the massive use of media by the political parties have led
to the increase in dominance of the media itself.
  According to Lijphart (1997) the voting turnout is low when they are measured
based on the voting age population rather than as a percentage of the total number
of people who registered to vote.
 Furthermore, he also assumed that the voting turnout is shaped by the socio-
economic position of the voter. In addition, Lijphart, (1997) supported his
assumption by justifying that wealthier and more educated people are more likely
to vote that those who are poor and uneducated.
 Dalton (1996) stated that the number of members of new social movements such
as women’s groups are more numerous than those who are members of a
particular political party.
 Kaase and Newton (1995) on the other hand, are cautious to the fact that the old
politics is simply good enough to handle new forms of challenges.
 Kaase and Newton also added that the traditional structures of politics are in a
state of transitory phase in order for the system to properly address the given
challenges of new social issues.
 NSM’s become pressure groups which aims to disrupt democracy by pressing the
issues of well-organized minorities.
 Enhancing Political Participation
 To enhance political participation, scholars suggests that states should remove
institutional barriers to the conventional forms of participation. Furthermore, they
also suggested that states must increase the use of referendums as a means of
increasing the level of pollical participation of every citizen.
 Lijphart, (1997) suggested that an extension of time to vote during elections will
help bring more people to participate. Aside from that, extending the time to vote
for Lijphart will help offset the socio-economic differences among citizens as
well as increase their awareness of politics.
 Butler and Ranney (1994) suggested to use referendums to promote liberal
democracy. As they assumed that the move will give people an opportunity to
pass judgement to issues that created disparity between parties.
 Budge (1996) argues that ICT (Information Communication and Technology)
removes the barriers of size, time and space by allowing instant forms of
communications (e.g. E-mail, Social Media, etc.)
 Bryan and his colleagues contends that the use of ICT has made participation
easier for the citizens.
 Positive Implications of ICT according to Bryan, et al. (1998)
 ICT presents an unprecedented innovation for the rapid distribution of
information.
  ICT allows information to be distributed immediately from the state down to the
civil society.
 New technologies involving ICT enables the groups inside the societies to publish
their opinions as well as create networks of members from one community to
another.
 The interactive nature of ICT allows the people to move beyond the limitations of
information given by mass media.
 The use of ICT makes the distribution of social services easier and precise.
 Limitations of ICT
 The problem of how to regulate ICT.
 ICT opens more possibilities for surveillance.
 Observers of Political participation has criticized the effects of ICT to the
participation of the citizens.
B. Objectives of the Presentation
 To define and understand political participation and how it is utilized in various
states and regimes.
 Discuss the various theories in political culture.
 To discuss the strengths and limitations of political participation.
C. Discussion Outline
 What is political participation and how the author defined it.
 Present examples of conventional and unconventional forms of political
participation.
 Discuss the main theories of political participation and examine their strengths
and weaknesses.
 Discuss political participation in the liberal democratic states.
 Examine current trends of political participation in the age of post-industrial era.
D. Conceptual Application Plan

E. Synthesis Points
 Political participation is an active engagement of individuals as well as groups to
the governmental processes of their lives.
 Challenges such as the rise of new social movements, citizens becoming more
critical and the rise of unconventional forms of political participation shapes the
political participation of every individual in the contemporary times.
 The rise of ICT’s broke the barriers of traditional forms of political participation
in states. Which then provided an indirect form of participation for every citizen.
F. Reflections and Personal Insights
The topic has given the reporter insights about the actions that individuals do not only
during times of elections and payment of taxes. The topic itself will broaden the insights
of those who read it in terms of the actions that people makes as a for of conforming to
the statues of the state or as a form of protest to the actions of the state itself.