Unit 6: Political Participation

Introduction

The people participate in politics because they believe that it can support the individual values of citizens, address the needs for services and reflect beliefs and moral expectations. Political participation can be described as an activity in which people desire to influence the government. This participation can be in form of voting, attending public forums, and being members in active groups. The participation occurs naturally not intentionally. As we think about the government more, we react to what we see and experience and become active members of political groups. We can participate individually through voting, and also collectively as members of larger interest groups or political organizations.

The Individual as Political Actor

The concept of individual has two important roles. One of them is a single player acting alone. The other one is acting as a member of a large group to be able to influence the government.

Individualism was said to be the base of the democracy practiced in the United States. Social systems were expected to support the individual’s desire for selffulfillment and happiness. The seeds of individualism can be observed in Protestant Reformation in which the freedom of individual to speak to God directly is expressed. However, even today individual expressions resisting the authority of the Church or the state get punishments. French Revolution can be seen as the most important event that focused on the individual and their responsibilities for action and involvement in matters of government. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen created a set of universally accepted individual and collective rights.

Political Culture

Political culture is the widely-shared beliefs, values, and norms that citizens share about their government. It is a distinctive and patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life should be carried out. Political culture can exist for country, for a group or even for an individual.

Political Participation at the Social Level

Access to money and the equality of the money citizens get to be able to pay the taxes, make the ends meet and even to spend on luxury items rises the most important issue in the problem. Individuals who are not satisfied with the amount of money they are able to earn can be expected to participate in political groups that are trying to address these issues with the leaders of the government. On the contrary, the people who earn enough money are less likely speak out against the government and join actively in political issue groups. Another issue that causes political sensitivity is religion. The source of sovereignty, religion or the government, can cause political debates. Also, education needs of the citizens should be addressed. Different perspectives about social mobility should be supported by the government.

Political Participation at the International Level

Each country has its own cultural values which have a great effect on political issues. Types of cultural morality are important when addressing political issues. Different perceptions of the citizens about these moral values could cause conflicts in political areas. Also, democratic spectrum of the country affects the active participation of the citizens to political interest groups. For example, on the contrary to China, citizens are more likely to participate in political groups with the influence of democracy. Participation of individuals to political process is fundamental to democracy.

Political Socialization Process

There is no one single way of participation to political process. Participation through voting or groups formed from common interest and concerns are commonly known ways of participation. Individual is the base of all kinds of participation. The social factors, such as religious organizations, parent, peer groups or social networks influence the individual.

Non-participation of young people to political process is another important concern of the majority. Younger people have less interest in government and politics. Also, they are unfamiliar with the methods of political participation. Lastly, since the young people have no children, they lack of parental concerns for their political wellbeing.

Models of Political Participation

There are two main models of political participation. One of them is the individual acting alone through civil engagement while the other is individual acting through groups.

As Individuals

Voting: Voting is one of the ways of individual participation to political process. Individual participates by voting in elections at both local and state levels. Voters should be aware of the rules for voting, registering as citizens to vote, and the rules for qualification at voting places. All these requirements might vary from country to country.

Protest: Civil disobedience stems from protest. A citizen protesting against the government is considered to perform civil disobedience, which can result in serious punishments. Refusing to pay taxes, gathering together against the government where government permission to assembly is not granted, demonstrating through boycotts or sit-ins are some forms of civil obedience.

In Groups

Generally, the voice of many people sharing the same interest speaks louder than the voice of an individual and has better effect on politics especially local government leaders. People belong to an interest group because of economic self-interest, beliefs, values, and attitudes and social reasons. People who join these groups tend to be from upper income levels. Economy and military actions are two crucial national issues to the public. High unemployment rate and engagement in military action are examples to these two important concerns. Besides some political groups, people form trade unions through which they gain strength in numbers to lobby for collective bargaining, workplace safety, higher wages and better benefits.

Political Parties

To maintain legitimacy and to gain support from the voters a political party develop a broad ideological agenda. They are aware of the value of support from interest groups. To get this support, the parties align with ideological beliefs of citizens. Economical issues, such as employment and reduced taxation, are very common for the parties to deal with to get the support of the voters.

Some political parties may only appear when the circumstances are suitable to their policies. However, some of them are well-organized and require full-time membership.

Grassroots Groups and NGOs

There are many kinds of political groups and some of them are not directly related to political parties, lobby groups or special interest groups. These kind of involvements are sometimes only related to local issues. These are called grassroots groups. These kind of groups are volunteer basis and mostly without a structure and funding. The purpose of such groups is to establish or change any public policy related to a specific issue of local concern.

There are also non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They address several different issues, such as inflation rates to maintain pace with devalued currency on world markets, educational standards for school systems attended by international students and health issues. Red Cross which helps disaster victims regardless of the ethnic identity, religion or nationality is a good example to these groups. Also, there are some international governmental organizations with political orientation. They address larger worldwide issues. For example, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank were founded to improve the world economy.

Social Networks

The internet brought a very new method to establish connections between citizens. People can spread their own political ideas and seek for support for their cause across the social domain. Linked-in, Facebook and Twitter are some of these applications have been created and used worldwide in the past two decades. Arap Spring is one of the best examples to the use of the social networking sites to spread the political concerns of some parts of the society.

When such groups are large enough to draw attention, the government takes their needs and interests into consideration and try to address their needs within the existing political structure. Sometimes it could be destructive to the current government. It could occur in the form of revolution against a totalitarian system and a leader.

Factors Affecting an Individual’s Political Participation

Understanding a reasonable purpose for government plays the key role for the citizens to participate in politics. The real purpose of the governments should be to care for the wellbeing of its citizens. Wellbeing of citizens can be determined by several elements: social, economic, psychological, professional, even personal issues may be a cause for concern.

Desperation: Sometimes the citizens cannot find any way to improve conditions but to resort to illegal acts. The individual may develop problems about restrictive rules. In this case, a form of redress must be found.

Deprivation of Rights: Voting is the fundamental to a democracy, but in some systems, unsupportive regulations for voting can prevent citizens from registering even from voting itself.

Support to Personal Morality-what is believed to be right: Religion and governments are competitive in the issue of sovereignty. Some conflicts can occur among different religions or even between the science and religion.

Obligation Imposed by Cultural Pressures:

According to Hartian theory of social obligation, there are two sets of rules addressing social behaviour. One of them is the standard behaviours of some groups and these groups believe that these behaviours are acceptable through natural Law. The other rule is an obligation for the rest of the society to behave according to these rules for the sake of conforming because the beliefs and the behaviours of the majority plays the key factor for the maintenance of the society and the authority.

Disrupting the Status Quo

The rights of women have been restricted for centuries. However, today women are struggling to get their rights back at work and in social areas. These kind of movements disrupt some societies which have more conservative governments.

Sowing the Seeds of Discontent

Societies move at a faster pace than laws and this creates discontent for some impatient citizens to wait for new laws or for changes to outdated ones. If a community experiences long delays in terms of the transformation of some laws, the leadership will face resistance from citizens.