Political participation

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We will examine the different forms of political participation and then the different explanatory factors. As far as political participation is concerned, there is usually only one dominant theory, which is the theory of resources, and there are other theories that can be drawn from existing works.

The study of participation goes back to the rise of behaviorism. At first, researchers were interested in explaining participation in a given country, and only later did they begin to develop comparative studies that have the advantage of focusing on the role of context. Initially, participation was conceived only in terms of voter turnout and everything else was put into another category. Then we moved to bivariate analyses that put two or one explanatory factor in relation to what we are trying to explain; and today, we are interested in many more factors, particularly because of more sophisticated analysis methods with multi-level analysis among others.

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Forms of political participation

What are the different forms of political participation? A distinction is made between conventional and non-conventional participation. These terms are still often used in the literature on participation. Nevertheless, the term conventional is not very well chosen because it does not remain stable; on the other hand, the distinction between institutional and non-institutional behaviour refers to behaviour that takes place within an institutionalized framework and other forms of participation that are non-institutionalized.

Milbrath is one of the founders of American sociology on political participation showing that there were several forms of participation. In a 1965 book, he postulates a distinction between three types of political actors also called "citizens" who are apathetic actors (1) who do not participate and are completely absent, spectators (2) who are people marginally involved in politics participating from time to time, and gladiators (3) who are people who are active fighters and participate all the time.

On the other hand, Milbrath based himself on studies by Verba. Milbrath distinguishes six different types of citizens, voters and patriots (1), contact specialists (2), communicators (3), party and campaign workers (4), community activists (5), protestors (6).

A third essential typology is that of Barnes and Kaase. They were the first to think in terms of typology in order to highlight the main types of participation. There is the idea of a true typology of forms of participation: inactive (1), conformists (2), reformists (3), activists (4), protestors (5).

Typology of the repertoire of political action: Barnes and Kaase

The starting point is a list of more specific actions, which in this case is a list of actions called "conventional participation". Barnes and Kaase innovate in the sense that they cross conventional criteria with non-conventional criteria. This way of thinking speaks of a current reflection that is a combination in order to see how forms of institutional commitments combine with forms of non-institutional commitments.

Barnes, S., M. Kaase et al. (1979). Political Action. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.[8][9][10]

Country directories of political action

The interest with this table is to see how participation varies and to show that engagement is highly dependent on the political context in which it takes place.

Barnes, S., M. Kaase et al. (1979). Political Action. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.[8]

Forms of political participation: Teorell, Torcal and Montero

Teorell, Tocal and Montero distinguish several forms of political participation, namely voting (1), consumer participation (2), party activity (3), protest activity (4) and contacting (5). These five forms depend on three criteria: channel of expression (1) which is extra-representative (2), exit-based (3) and voice-based (4). A further distinction is made between targeted (1) and non-targeted (2).

This typology has been empirically tested, but how was it arrived at on the basis of empirical data?

Van Deth, J.W., J.R. Montero et A. Westholm, éds. (2007). Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies. London: Routledge.[11]

Factorial analysis of forms of political participation

Van Deth, J. W., J.R. Montero et A. Westholm, éds. (2007). Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies. London: Routledge.[11]

A fairly standard battery of participation appears. The idea of factor analysis starts from the idea that there are certain latent dimensions of human action that cannot be observed. We observe something else and through this we try to identify and understand the latent dimensions. A factorial analysis will allow us to reduce a great complexity and to identify some underlying and latent dimensions. We observe correlations between the observed item and the latent unobserved dimension. The logic is to try to define and observe participations through inferences.

In the literature, there are several proposals, but in the end, it is possible to reach a consensus that defines up to five main forms of participation.

Explanatory factors for political participation

A first way to explain political participation is to ask the question about the potential factors that may explain why one participates or why one does not participate. Remember that when we talk about political participation, we try to explain why we vote or why we abstain, or why we participate in certain forms such as a social movement or why we do not participate.

It is already possible to distinguish between four main types of explanatory factors that must be taken into account.

First, we need to look at what Milbrath called the immediate environment, i.e., contextual factors directly or closely related to the explanations of participation, such as the role of the media, the potential effect of political campaigns, but also the role of personal contacts and informal conversations that influence us that can inform, convince or deter.

The second set of factors refers to attitudes, beliefs and personality traits encompassing partisan identification that can influence our participation, but also political effectiveness. Dissatisfaction with politics is another example of an attitude that we can refer to two hypotheses with the fact that dissatisfaction with politics could push someone to participate or on the contrary to not participate.

A third set of factors is related to social position, which is socio-economic status, age, but also gender. There are variations between these different socio-demographic characteristics and participation.

Finally, to return to the contextual level, there is the broader environment, namely the social system, cultural tradition or the institutional framework and political system, which may explain different participation rates from one context to another.

To sum up, two levels need to be taken into account, namely the macro level, which is a contextual level, and the macrosociological level. A comprehensive explanation takes into account these four types of factors. Nevertheless, this is a simple list of factors to try to explain why people participate in politics. These factors potentially have an effect.

Theories of political participation

In the literature, there are several theories of political participation. We will see a classification of the theories that partly use these different factors. This classification of theories distinguishes between five explanatory theories of participation. There is not only one way to classify the theories of participation. Nevertheless, it is possible to distinguish between two or even three main approaches.

Socio-economic status - standard model

This theory is the first chronologically in the history of the discipline, namely the theory of socio-economic status. This theory focuses on a certain type of factors, namely the level of education, which is the variable that has the most explanatory power of participation in general whether electoral or non-electoral, there is also income and occupation. Behind this theory there is a concern about the role of social class. This theory has been dominant for many years.

Orientations politiques - political attitudes model

Orientation" refers to political attitudes. It is a type of explanation that emphasizes the role of political attitudes more than the role of social inclusion. Political attitudes include interest in politics, political trust, which is the fact of having confidence in political institutions, which can explain participation in one way or another. Political trust may be something that explains electoral participation while it explains abstention in other forms of participation. That is why, at one point, researchers have tried to go beyond this distinction in trying to see in which form participation will take place because several explanatory factors may apply to different forms of participation. Political effectiveness must also be taken into account.

This theory is rarely found in textbooks. It is Professor Giugni who makes the distinction, because it can be integrated elsewhere.

Resources - civic voluntarism model

The resource model is a dominant model that is still dominant today and comes from Verba for example. This theory focuses on the resources that individuals have in politics. The idea is that to be able to participate politically, you have to have certain resources. According to a broad definition, this can be any kind of resources, including cultural resources that come from education. Resources are defined as time to devote to political participation, money that refers to the income factor, and civic skills. Behind this model is the idea that skills come from somewhere and highlights the fact that engagement in various non-political and therefore civic associations gives us those skills that are useful for political participation later on.

Between these first three models, it is possible to distinguish between the economic status model, which emphasizes social characteristics of people, and the resource model, which emphasizes the resources available to people.

Social capital - social capital model

Social capital is defined by its properties and resources, i.e., the social relationships and networks that give rise to generalized trust, as Putnam calls it, which translates into institutional trust. Putnam also emphasizes the idea of norms of reciprocity that are established between a social system and an individual.

This theory has been used mainly to explain the participation of certain minority groups, particularly in the study of immigrant participation. Nevertheless, this theory is less widespread, but it is a model that has begun to spread.

Group consciousness model

This model is less widely used to explain, among other things, the participation of certain minorities in the United States in the context of ethical and racial cleavages. The basic idea is that there are a number of factors, including four main actors that explain why people participate:

  • group identification with a strong identity element that emphasizes the role of collective identities. First of all, one must identify with a certain group that can be understood by the term "class". The origin of the theory is rather in the distinction of ethnic type, but it can very well be extrapolated to a class cleavage that makes this theory fully Marxist;
  • polar affect which is a preference for members of one's own group over members of the other group. This translates into the existence of a cleavage between several groups within society;
  • polar power is the feeling of dissatisfaction with the situation that one's own group has in society. It is a feeling of injustice, of belonging to a group that is treated unfairly in relation to the situation in society;
  • the theory postulates in its more precise version an additive effect of these different factors, namely the distinction between individual and system blame which is the attribution of responsibility for the unjust situation of the group to which the individual belongs and identifies himself.

The combination of these four factors means that members of a minority should participate in forms of collective action. The first major theory to explain the emergence of social movements focuses on grievances, which are claims also related to situations of injustice between groups.

Facteurs explicatifs de la participation électorale

Lorsqu’on s’intéresse à la participation électorale, il y a trois grandes familles de facteurs explicatifs.

D’abord, il y a ce qui relève des caractéristiques du système politique et du processus politique avec le système électoral qui peut être majoritaire ou proportionnel avec la traduction de la volonté des citoyens en vote, l’obligation de s’enregistrer sur les listes électorales, le nombre de partis en tenant compte du fait que le type de système électoral influe sur le nombre de partis, le nombre d'élections ou de votations, la présence d'autres canaux d’influence politique tel que les lobbys, le pouvoir de décision des autorités politiques ou encore le degré de légitimité du système politique qui peut influencer le degré de participation.

Un autre ensemble de facteurs se situe à un autre niveau qui sont les caractéristiques de l’élection ou de la votation avec le nombre de partis et candidats en lice, l’importance de l’enjeu, l’équilibre des forces en jeu ou encore le degré de compétition entre partis et les candidats.

Enfin, il y a les caractéristiques de l’électorat avec la position sociale et la perception de la politique.

Pour résumer, l’explication de la participation électorale fait appelle à des facteurs qui se situent au niveau macro au niveau du système et du processus politique dans son ensemble, des caractéristiques de l’élection spécifiques ou de la votation qu’on étudie pouvant expliquer des variations d’une relation à l’autre et finalement les caractéristiques de l’électorat qui peuvent expliquer des variations entre les individus ou entre un groupe d’individus et un autre. Il faut prendre en compte l’ensemble de ces facteurs afin d’avoir une explication exhaustive de la participation électorale.

Explications de la participation électorale : Franklin

Curieusement, il n’y a pas de théorie de la participation électorale comme il y en a pour la participation politique, mais par contre, il y a certains auteurs qui ont essayé d’élaborer une théorie dont Franklin qui avait une idée sur ce qui explique véritablement la participation électorale, à savoir le fait que les gens vont voter plutôt que l’abstention. Il n’y a pas de théorie de la participation électorale, mais par contre il y a des théories de l’abstention. Ainsi, la participation électorale est étudiée par le revers de la médaille.

Selon Franklin, il y a trois grandes théories de la participation politique, à savoir les ressources (1) qui sont le temps, l’argent et la connaissance, les théories de la mobilisation (2) qui mettent l’accent sur le rôle des individus et la prise de conscience du rôle politique des individus peut être due à différentes sources notamment le rôle des médias. En d’autres termes, il y a des instances organisationnelles qui mobilisent les gens à aller voter. Enfin, il y a la motivation instrumentale (3).

Au moment où Franklin écrivait, il y avait deux grandes théories qui sont la théorie des ressources et la théorie de la mobilisation. Pour Franklin, il fallait aussi regarder la motivation instrumentale qui est le sens que les individus peuvent avoir par rapport à l’impact de leurs actions sur le résultat de l’élection. C’est le sentiment d’efficacité de sa propre participation.

S’il faut tenir compte de la motivation instrumentale, c’est parce que la théorie des ressources, mais aussi la théorie de la mobilisation, ne permet pas d’expliquer un fait qui est évident, à savoir que le taux de participation au niveau agrégé varie fortement d’un contexte à l’autre. Pour expliquer cette variation, il faut regarder la variation instrumentale qui est la motivation que les gens ont de participer pour des raisons instrumentales, c‘est-à-dire que le fait de participer est expliqué par la perception de l’efficacité de sa participation. Cette motivation instrumentale est fortement influencée par le contexte et des facteurs tel que le fait que les systèmes électoraux, le nombre de partis en jeu, la saillance d’une élection, l’équilibre des forces en jeu sont ce qui donne de la motivation aux citoyens afin de participer.

Participation électorale selon les pays

Leduc, L., R. Niemi et P. Norris, éds. (1996). Comparing Democracies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Ce tableau est le taux moyen de participation dans des élections libres cumulées entre 1960 et 1995. Apparaissent des variations énormes avec par exemple l’Australie avec 95% et la Pologne avec pratiquement 51%. Tout de suite après apparaît la Suisse dans ce classement négatif.

On voit une énorme différence d’un pays à l’autre. Pour Franklin, cela ne peut pas être expliqué par le modèle des ressources parce qu’on présuppose que dans tous les pays, dans la moyenne, il ne devrait pas y avoir un effet de composition d’un électorat à l’autre qui pourrait expliquer cette grande différence. Il y a la même chose pour la théorie de la mobilisation, les médias jouent un grand rôle, tous les partis politiques font des campagnes politiques, il y a des groupes qui se mobilisent, il y un ensemble d’homogénéité qui ne peut expliquer les différences.

La motivation instrumentale est fortement influencée par le contexte et notamment la saillance des élections varie beaucoup d’un contexte à l’autre dépendant énormément de nombreux facteurs qui peuvent varier d’un contexte à l’autre.

Participation électorale selon les caractéristiques individuelles

Leduc, L., R. Niemi et P. Norris, éds. (1996). Comparing Democracies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Ce tableau montre les effets individuels de différents facteurs comme l’âge, la force de l’identification partisane, le fait de discuter de politique, l’éducation, la participation religieuse, la participation à des associations et le revenu.

Franklin a voulu montrer le taux moyen de participation électorale dans la catégorie inférieure par rapport à la catégorie supérieure de la variable en question.

On voit des mesures des effets individuels et des effets de contextes. Franklin conclut que l’effet du contexte est plus important que les différences individuelles.

Effets des facteurs individuels sur la participation électorale

Leduc, L., R. Niemi et P. Norris, éds. (1996). Comparing Democracies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Ce tableau montre trois tableaux de régression. Dans le premier apparaissent que les effets individuels, le troisième contient les effets individuels, contextuels et une estimation des données manquantes.

Les caractéristiques individuelles jouent un rôle important, mais l’effet du contexte est particulièrement important.

Effets des facteurs contextuels sur la participation électorale

Leduc, L., R. Niemi et P. Norris, éds. (1996). Comparing Democracies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Dans ce tableau, Franklin met l’accent sur des effets de contexte. Si on regarde le premier modèle, Franklin tente de voir quelles sont les caractéristiques du contexte institutionnel qui peuvent influencer la participation. On peut voir un effet significatif, mais relativement peu important de 0,62. Autrement dit, cela fait augmenter de 0,62% la participation si on est dans un système proportionnel plutôt que dans un système majoritaire.

Le vote obligatoire, comme il y a dans certains endroits aussi en Suisse, l’effet est toujours significatif, mais toujours important. Si on est obligé de voter, cela fait augmenter de 7% la participation électorale.

Une troisième caractéristique est le ou les jours de vote qui est le seul effet qui n’est pas significatif et qui est même négatif, à savoir que plus on laisse de temps aux gens pour voter, moins ils vont voter.

La saillance d’une élection, qui est le facteur contextuel sur lequel Franklin veut mettre l’accent, a un effet significatif important. Plus une élection est saillante, plus on a tendance à participer.

Evolution de la participation électorale

Dalton, R.J. et H.-D. Klingemann, éds. (2007). The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

La participation électorale varie beaucoup d’un contexte à l’autre et aussi dans le temps. Beaucoup de travaux essaient de montrer qu’il y a un déclin assez régulier dans la participation électorale. Ce tableau montre deux lignes à savoir tous les pays inclus dans l’analyse, et une deuxième ligne qui montre les démocraties. La participation est surement surestimée pour des périodes différentes. On voit un déclin allant de 79% à 71% pour tous les pays et un déclin allant de 83% à 73% pour les démocraties. Ce qu’on constate est que le vrai moment de déclin est à partir des années 1990.

Annexes

References

  1. Marco Giugni - UNIGE
  2. Marco Giugni - Google Scholar
  3. Marco Giugni - Researchgate.net
  4. Marco Giugni - Cairn.info
  5. Marco Giugni - Protest Survey
  6. Marco Giugni - EPFL Press
  7. Marco Giugni - Bibliothèque Nationale de France
  8. 8,0 et 8,1 Barnes, Samuel H., and Max Kaase. Political action : mass participation in five Western democracies. Beverly Hills, Calif: Sage Publications, 1979. Print.
  9. Powell, G. B., Jr. (1981). Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies.Samuel H. Barnes , Max Kaase , Klaus R. Allerback , Barbara Farah , Felix Heunks , Ronald Inglehart , M. Kent Jennings , Hans D. Klingemann , Allan Marsh , Leopold Rosenmayr. American Journal of Sociology, 87(2), 505–507. https://doi.org/10.1086/227490
  10. LeDuc, L. (1981). Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western DemocraciesSamuel H. Barnes, Max Kaase, et al. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1979, pp. 608. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 14(1), 201–202. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0008423900035824
  11. 11,0 et 11,1 Deth, Jan W., Montero, and Anders Westholm. Citizenship and involvement in European democracies : a comparative analysis. London New York: Routledge, 2007. Print.