Forms Of Political Participation Research Articles

Online Civic Intervention: A New Form of Political Participation Under Conditions of a Disruptive Online Discourse

In the everyday practice of online communication, we observe users deliberately reporting abusive content or opposing hate speech through counterspeech, while at the same time, online platforms are increasingly relying on and supporting this kind of user action to fight disruptive online behavior. We refer to this type of user engagement as online civic intervention (OCI) and regard it as a new form of user-based political participation in the digital sphere that contributes to an accessible and reasoned public discourse. Because OCI has received little scholarly attention thus far, this article conceptualizes low- and high-threshold types of OCI as different kinds of user responses to common disruptive online behavior such as hate speech or hostility toward the media. Against the background of participation research, we propose a theoretically grounded individual-level model that serves to explain OCI.

Life After the Fight: Labor Trajectories and Emotional Stories of the Chilean Left in the Post-Dictatorship

This article analyzes the processes of social and political reconversion of the Chilean Left during the Post-Dictatorship period from a biographical perspective. By tracking professional and labor trajectories as well as emotional and family stories of thirty former militants of the parties that formed the Movimiento Democratico Popular (MDP 1983-1987), from 1990 until today, this study discusses the main changes in the forms of political participation in the last 30 years. Drawing on contributions from sociology of the individual as well as sociology of emotions, this paper interprets the dilemma of recomposing lives after anti dictatorship struggle: the exposure of contradictions in labor and economic reconversions, alongside the emotional costs of political participation. This findings allows to affirm that militants live painful processes and conflicting identity transformations which are not explained entirely by the end of political participation or the crisis of leftist parties during the nineties. This paper claims that these are highly complex processes of identity reconfiguration that arise from the way in which the interviewees elaborate the emotions associated with political commitment and reinterpret the political and collective meanings of their fighting experiences.

Odnos personalizovane religioznosti i političkog aktivizma kod građana Srbije

This paper uses the data collected by the empirical research of personalized religiosity and political activism, as well as the secondary data analysis of European Value Study - EVS. Personalized religiosity is defined through the following aspects: the belief in a divine being / spirit / life force; inner spirituality; interest in the sacred / supernatural; finding solace in faith; prayer and / or meditation. In operational terms, political activism consists of five variables: sign petitions and join boycotts, participate in legal demonstrations, join unofficial strikes, occupy business facilities or factories. The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship between a so-called personalized. secular religiosity and political activism as a form of political participation among Serbian citizens. Using regression analysis, we found that personalized religiosity is a positive but not statistically significant predictor of political activism.

Political Participation of Getasan Community in Semarang Regency Elections in 2015

This research aimed to describe the form and the level of political participation of the Getasan district community in the election of Semarang Regency in 2015. Data collection techniques were through interviews, observations, and document studies. Sample research amounted to 182 respondents that were taken from 13 villages in the district of Getasan, and each village was taken 14 respondents. While secondary data of literature studies and studies of documents were both derived from the contestants, the general election commission district, the mass media, and other relevant sources. There were two candidates for the regent and vice-regent period 2015-2020; they were Mundjirin with Ngesti Nugraha that supported by three political parties, and the second, Nur Jatmiko with Mas’ud Ridwan that supported by four political parties. The results show that the form of political participation in the community of Getasan in the election year 2015 can be listed into nine activities, such as participation in one of the political parties, the committee of elections, socialization the candidate, campaign, become a victory team participated in the procurement of polling stations, participated in the voting, participated in the security voting in polling stations, and participated in the process calculation of the vote.

BENTUK PARTISIPASI POLITIK MASYARAKAT TIONGHOA DI PROVINSI KEPULAUAN BANGKA BELITUNG DALAM PEMILU 2019

This study about the form of political participation of the Chinese ethnic community in Province of Bangka Belitung. This is based on the majority of the Chinese ethnic community who are in Bangka Belitung, so we will see how their political is especially ahead of this 2019 election. The election is a manifestation of democracy that reflects community participation in reviving a democratic system. Political participation greatly influences the political system of a democratic country, because a democratic political system will haven’t meaning without political participation. Various forms of political participation of the ethnic Chinese community starting from using voting rights, join party organization and campaign to run as one of the candidates.

Political Participation in Self-Managed Social Centres. Direct Social Action and Institutionalization in Bologna City

While regeneration is emerging as a paradigm capable of inspiring public policies and transforming lifestyles, the urban space remains a fertile ground in which collective initiatives based on activism and solidarity can emerge. The aim of this article is to describe some social and political practices in self-managed spaces and their relationship both with the wider background of the city and with local institu-tions. We argue that processes of institutionalization could affect practices of self-organization and political participation in different ways: these processes could mark the cooptation of conflicts into local administration strategies as well as open new forms of politicization around urban commons. We will present a case study, the evolution of the social centre Labas in Bologna city, as a testing ground to explore and examine these practices and interactions. In the following paragraphs, we define the self-managed social centres, considering the processes of repression and institutionalization, and the development of new forms of political participation. Then we focus on the history of Bologna's social centres. Finally, we analyze the case study, briefly describing the process of institutionalization and the evolution of its practices.

Food Activism and Citizens’ Democratic Engagements: What Can We Learn from Market-Based Political Participation?

Food democracy calls for a democratization of the production, distribution, and consumption of food. Researchers and lay citizens are showing a growing interest for initiatives associated with food democracy, yet the specific democratic ideals and involvements that make up food democracy have gained limited attention. Many forms of participation associated with food democracy are market-based, such as buying organic food or joining community-supported agricultural projects. Research shows that market-based logics influence multiple spheres of life and threaten democratic ideals. However, scholars working on political participation have not yet analyzed the influence of market-based logics across forms of participation. This article analyses the action repertoire of food democracy to assess the influence of market-based logics on different forms of food activism. It builds on four critiques of market-based politics to question the relationship between different forms of participation and the market. It addresses three research questions: Which forms of political participation do citizens use to democratize the food regime? Which conceptions of democracy relate to these different forms of food activism? Which critiques of market-based politics apply to different forms of food activism? The article highlights the widespread risk of unequal participation, crowding out, commodification, and state retreat across forms of participation used to democratize food regimes. This study provides insights into the types of democratic renewal being experimented with in the framework of food democracy as well as their limits.

A framework for understanding citizens’ political participation in social media

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how the use of social media by citizens has impacted the traditional conceptualization and operationalization of political participation in the society.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on Teorellet al.’s (2007) classification of political participation which is modified to suit the current context of social media. The authors classified 15,460 tweets along three parameters suggested in the framework with help of supervised text classification algorithms.FindingsThe analysis reveals that Activism is the most prominent form of political participation undertaken by people on Twitter. Other activities that were undertaken include Formal Political participation and Consumer participation. The analysis also reveals that identity of participant does not play a classifying role as expected from the theoretical framework. It was found that the social media as a platform facilitates new forms of participation which are not feasible offline.Research limitations/implicationsThe current work considers only the microblogging platform of Twitter as the data source. For a more comprehensive insight, analysis of other social media platforms is also required.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few analyses where such a large database covering multiple social media events has been created and analysed using supervised text classification algorithms. A large proportion of previous studies on social media have been based on case study and have limited analysis to only a particular event on social media. Although there exist a few works that have studied a vast and varied collection of social media data (Gaby and Caren, 2012; Shirazi, 2013; Rane and Salem, 2012), such efforts are few in number. This study aims to add to that stream of work where a wider and more generalized set of social media data is studied.

What citizens learn from elections: The normative consequences of voter eligibility

Advocates of innovations for ways to expand citizens’ political participation claim that institutions that require more in-depth participation than voting are required to attain a democratic system with profound civic engagement. They often base this claim on the assumption that elections fail to encourage citizens to be socially and politically involved. In this paper I challenge this assumption by exploring whether voter eligibility reinforces the notion that a good citizen participates in politics. Applying a regression discontinuity design that uses the voting-age restriction as the threshold, I find that voter eligibility boosts support for extensive (non-electoral) forms of political participation. Hence, I argue that the importance of elections should not be underestimated in the quest for societies with civic-minded citizens.

Electronic forms of political participation in Great Britain – intentions and experiences

Artykuł prezentuje szeroko rozumiane elektroniczne uczestnictwo polityczne na przykładzie Wielkiej Brytanii – od działań oddolnych (ruchy społeczne, protesty), po decyzje rządowe, w wyniku których w tym kraju zorganizowano, wdrożono i realizuje się świadczenie usług publicznych drogą elektroniczną (e-admnistracja, głosowanie elektroniczne). Wśród doświadczeń wymienia się przede wszystkim kwestie związane z frekwencją wyborczą, partycypacją obywatelską w różnych formach protestu (zwłaszcza po 2010 roku), a także osiągnięcia Wielkiej Brytanii w zakresie e-administracji. Jeśli chodzi o zamierzenia, to chodzi przede wszystkim o działania na rzecz wprowadzenia głosowania elektronicznego w tym kraju. Autorka posługuje się metodą analizy przypadku, analizy porównawczej, a także opisową. Sięga po dane dostępne w formie raportów i badań empirycznych, a także posługuje się analizą prasy. Wśród wniosków zwraca się uwagę na ograniczoną otwartość Brytyjczyków na zastosowanie narzędzi elektronicznych w sektorze publicznym, przy jednoczesnym dużym wysiłku organizacyjnym i politycznym elit politycznych w ich wdrażaniu. Pytaniem otwartym zostaje kwestia dalszych prac nad rozwojem elektronicznej partycypacji w tym kraju (zwłaszcza głosowania elektronicznego).

The Political Outcomes of Unfriending: Social Network Curation, Network Agreeability, and Political Participation

Research has noted a link between social media use and political participation. Scholars have also identified a need to explain this link. The present study is a theoretical and empirical probe into the political outcomes of unfriending people on social media. Drawing on privacy management theory and the social identity perspective, it explores the relationship between social network curation (blocking or unfriending others on social media for political reasons), perceived social network agreeability (how often people agree with the political opinions or political content of friends on social media), and forms of political participation. Using data from a survey of US adults (N=2,018) and a structural equation modelling approach, study results indicate a relational path from social network curation, through expressive participation (e.g. discussing politics and posting about politics on social media), to more demonstrative forms of participation (e.g. donating money and volunteering time). The study contributes to our understanding of the link between social media use and political outcomes by focusing on a unique explanatory mechanism. Policy implications pertain to the role that social media use plays in fostering political involvement. Specifically, if cutting disagreeable friends out of one’s social network is associated with political participation, this raises normative concerns regarding engagement which is underpinned by political polarization and intolerance.

WhatsApp political discussion, conventional participation and activism: exploring direct, indirect and generational effects

ABSTRACT Ordinary citizens are increasingly using mobile instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp for politically-related activities. Compared to other ‘semi-public’ online platforms, WhatsApp provides a more intimate and controlled environment in which users can almost simultaneously gather and share news, discuss politics, and mobilize others. Relying on two-wave panel data collected in Spain, USA, and New Zealand, this study examines the mediating role of WhatsApp political discussion in the relationships between different types of news use and various forms of political participation. First, our findings reveal WhatsApp discussion has a positive influence on activism, and a more nuanced effect on conventional participation. Second, results are partially supportive of a fully mediated set of influences between news media and social media news uses and both types of participation via WhatsApp. Finally, the study examines age differential effects between younger (Gen Xers and Millennials) and older (Boomers) age groups.

What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Participation? Sense of Community and Social Representations of Participation.

The relationship between sense of community (SOC) and citizen participation has been extensively studied in community psychology. Connecting Social Representations and SOC theory, this study explored the lay meanings of citizen participation and its association with SOC. A word association task and a measure of territorial SOC were administered to 390 participants, and data analyzed to explore the contents of the social representations of citizen participation conveyed by the interviewees and their salience. Results revealed that different levels of SOC were associated with variations in the social representation of citizen participation. Specifically, among high-SOC participants the notion of formal political participation prevailed, while among low-SOC participants a more articulated vision emerged, encompassing social and community participation, and also conventional and non conventional types of participatory behaviors.

LOLitics: The Content and Impact of Dutch Populist Internet Memes

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have created a space for user generated content. Users create their own humorous pictures, catchphrases, hashtags or videos, called internet memes, which are widely shared via social media. These memes, often satirical, are also used to express political criticism. As such, it represents a new form of political participation and deserves further inquiry. This study (i) analyses the content of internet memes posted on Dutch right-wing populist Facebook pages; and (ii) using an experimental design, it examines the impact of memes on political cynicism and sympathy for politicians. The results show that (i) memes are more than just entertaining images. They are carriers of anger and political discontent; (ii) yet, there is not enough evidence to assert that memes affect political cynicism or attitudes towards politicians.

The influence of various measures of health on different types of political participation

Recent research in political behaviour suggests that poor health can be an impediment for individuals to vote. At the same time, researchers argue that health may both hinder and reinforce other forms of political participation. With respect to these ambiguous expectations, our study asks: does the relationship between health and political involvement depend on how we measure health? We answer this question for two of the most widely used health indicators, self-reported health and being hampered by illness in daily activities. We use the European Social Survey (ESS) (N = 35,000) covering 20 European countries and find that the measurement of health indeed matters: our results illustrate that bad self-reported health is an impediment to voting, but not to other forms of political activity. When it comes to our second indicator, being hampered in daily activities, we also find a negative relationship with voting. Yet, our results also indicate that most individuals, who are hampered by illness in their daily lives, have a tendency to participate more regularly in most other forms of political activity, including boycotting, contacting a politician, or signing a petition. Robustness checks including waves 1–6 of the ESS support these findings.

Benign dataveillance? Examining novel data-driven governance systems in India and China

This study examines novel data-driven models of governance emerging from the Global South, specifically India and China, enabled by Net-based technologies. The first model, the biometric identity scheme or ‘Aadhaar’ project in India consolidates citizens’ digital identities to enable access to government services such as welfare benefits. The second model is China’s Social Credit System. By combining the citizens’ financial records, online shopping data, social media behaviour and employment history, the system will produce a personal score for each citizen. This rating system will be used to measure the citizens’ trustworthiness. This research unpacks these value-embedded systems posited as digital innovations to strengthen citizenship through new forms of political participation, inclusion and representation. In doing so, we are confronted with what constitutes as “democracy” in this datafied and global era, beyond the universalisms that are on offer today.

Yadnya dalam Bingkai Ritual dan Politik

This article discusses the problem of yajna in its implementation into various rituals whose existence often comes into contact with politics. Implementation is often identified with ceremonies or rituals, even though the scope of the real yajna is broader in scope. Lontar-lontar as a ritual reference text also more explicitly mentions yajna as a ritual form that contains offerings and worship. Hindus in Bali recognize the Panca Yajna that emerged from the principle of Tri Rna. In the implementation of the Panca Yajna, especially the yajna which are general or together in nature, for example those held by Desa Pakraman and other groups, as well as the yajna in the temple, often involve political participation in their implementation. One example is the provision of assistance to every Desa Pakraman in Bali by the Bali Government as a form of political participation in the implementation of the Yajna. Likewise with the emergence of the simakrama phenomenon of political figures when the implementation of the yajna is a form of intersection between political activity and religious activities. This will be discussed in this article.

ACEHNESE COFFEE SHOPS AS PUBLIC SPACES: ACEH POLITICAL PARTICIPATION MODEL IN YOGYAKARTA

Purpose: This paper aims to recognize a new form of political participation that is expressed by Acehnese coffee shop drinkers in supporting and criticizing local Acehnese politics, particularly those in Yogyakarta. Furthermore, this research examines the role of informal movements and clubs involved in decision-making related issues of Acehnese living in Yogyakarta.
 Methodology:This is a critical qualitative approach with in-depth interviews and participatory observation over several months. Participatory observation was conducted through immersive participation in Acehnese coffee shops as public spaces and in-depth interviews with coffee shop managers, community leaders, and regular customers.
 Findings: The Acehnese unique cultural and social culture of coffee drinking plays a dynamic role with Acehnese community’s relationship with politics. This culture facilitates the existence of Acehnese identity in Yogyakarta and intensifies political participation through informal discussion. Acehnese coffee shops are free and autonomous public spaces, which are collectively owned and persevered by the community.
 Implication: Informal politics and local identity expressed through far political distances are interesting in Indonesia to examine social cohesion and capital nationwide. Out study also develops a model contributes to political science in Indonesian by explaining the relationship between informal and formal politics. It helps explain differences of different cultural and ethnic groups in Indonesia.
 Originality: Our paper investigates the perspective of local politics within Indonesian politics. Furthermore, most contemporary political research focuses on formal and official politics, while this paper uncovers long distance informal politics embedded in unique Acehnese social culture in coffee shops. The civic contribution of Acehnese coffee shops as a public place in Indonesian democracy is convincingly established in this paper.

Uruguay, 1968. Algunas líneas de análisis derivadas del estudio de la protesta estudiantil en un país periférico

This paper – focused on a deep analysis of the student movement that occupied the streets of Montevideo in 1968 – aims at proposing some analytical lines to understand this and other contemporary cycles of protest in different places of the world. After locating these events in a wide geography characterized both by political acceleration and the dramatic display of cultural change, four relevant themes in the growing body of literature on the «global Sixties» are raised. First, it is addressed the relationship between social movements and groups or political parties in these «short cycles» of protest. Second, the idea that violence was rather a catalyzer of political innovation rather than the result of political polarization is proposed. Third, it breaks down the diversity of possible links between culture, in a broad sense, and the forms of political participation in youth mobilizations. Finally, it can be more rewarding to look at different scales of analysis of these processes, from the strictly national to the transnational circulation of ideas and people.

Participación social y política en Internet y brecha generacional

Fil: Delfino, Gisela Isabel. Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas; Argentina