Abstract
Measures to cope with the COVID‐19 pandemic have put a sudden halt to street protests and other forms of citizen involvement in Europe. At the same time, the pandemic has increased the need for solidarity, motivating citizens to become involved on behalf of people at risk and the vulnerable more generally. This research note empirically examines the tension between the demobilisation and activation potential of the COVID‐19 crisis. Drawing on original survey data from seven Western European countries, we examine the extent, forms, and drivers of citizens’ engagement. Our findings show the remarkable persistence of pre‐existing political and civic engagement patterns. Concurrently, we show that threat perceptions triggered by the multifaceted COVID‐19 crisis have mobilized Europeans in the early phase of the pandemic. Similarly, the role of extreme ideological orientations in explaining (regular) political engagement indicates that the current situation may create its specific mobilisation potentials.
Highlights
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed European societies under unprecedented strain
The same applies to dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the Coronavirus: our results indicate a positive association with political engagement in Germany, the UK, Sweden, and the Netherlands
We find that more increased economic-related threats are associated with a lower level of civic and political participation, whereas the effect of health threats is contingent on the form of participation
Summary
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed European societies under unprecedented strain. We find a strikingly consistent, positive association between the presence of children in one’s household and political and civic engagement This indicates that while parents are seen as less involved during ‘normal times’ due to family responsibilities and related time constraints (McAdam 1986; Schussman and Soule 2005), they were more involved in the first period of the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the most affected groups by the lockdown measures. Sociotropic health threats seem to mobilize citizens in terms of civic engagement, demobilize in terms of less contentious political engagement, and have no statistically significant effect on participation in demonstrations. Longer-term predispositions captured by ideological left-right orientations seem to explain regular engagement better than short-term crisis-driven threat considerations
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