General Political Participation Research Articles

Are politically engaged citizens more democratic? A glimpse from Brazil

A significant part of the Western literature on democracy assumes that political participation leads to citizens being more committed to democratic values. However, we do not know to what extent this is true in young democracies with an authoritarian tradition. Hence, this article aims to examine whether politically engaged Brazilians are more democratic. To do so, we analyzed whether there is any association between political participation, support for democracy, and democracy relativization through multivariate regression models. Our database comprises a representative sample of 2417 interviews with the electorate of São Paulo in 2019. The results show a statistically significant association between unconventional political participation and support for democracy. General political participation is associated with non-relativization of democracy only, showing a limited relationship between support for democracy and participation. Other variables, such as political interest, political knowledge, and interpersonal trust, are also associated with higher support for democracy.

Examining Chinese Charitable Giving Under State Intervention: A Political Participation Perspective

While it is prominent for governments across the globe to promote charitable giving, few governments directly intervene in charitable fundraising due to ethical and political risks. An exception is the Chinese government that has actively sought private donations. Using a national dataset of Chinese giving, this study explores from a general political participation perspective how individuals responded to different levels of state intervention in private charity. It finds that people made (a) voluntary donations (little state intervention) in relation to their social involvement and civic engagement, (b) suggested donations (e.g., the state called for donations) in relation to their civic participation and formal political participation, and (c) coerced donations (e.g., the state demanded donations) in relation to their personal bonds with the state. Thus, while appropriate state intervention seems productive, undue intervention may damage both charity and state legitimacy. Implications and suggestions for future research are included.

Online News and Protest Participation in a Political Context: Evidence from Self-Reported Cross-Sectional Data

The availability of alternative information via online news sources is often said to induce social discontent, especially in states, where traditional media are under state control. But does this relation really exist, and is it universal? In contrast to previous studies, where generalized Internet use is treated as a proxy for online news consumption and general political participation is a proxy for protest participation, we render a test of relationship specifically between online news and protest participation. We explore survey data from WVS for 48 nations in 2010-2014. The analysis provides evidence that the likelihood of individual protest participation is positively associated with online news consumption. The study also shows that the magnitude of the effect varies depending upon the political context: surprisingly, despite supposedly unlimited control offline as well as online media, autocratic countries demonstrated higher effects of online news than transitional regimes, where the Internet media are relatively uninhibited.

The Relationship Between Media Content Preferences and Political Participation in 25 European Countries: The Moderating Role of Broadband Penetration and Broadband Access

This study examined the idea that the rise of broadband Internet has contributed to an aggravation of the divide between those who are politically active and those who are not. It was hypothesized that both access to broadband Internet (as an individual-level characteristic) and broadband penetration (as a country-level characteristic) would strengthen the positive relation between relative preferences for political media content and political participation. Analyses were based on data that were collected in the 2010 wave of the European Social Survey ( N = 40,582; 25 countries). Political participation was measured both using a voter turnout variable and using a more general political participation scale. Findings from multilevel analyses provide support to the moderating role of both broadband access and broadband penetration, but only when using the general political participation scale.

Not by technology alone: The “analog” aspects of online public engagement in policymaking

Between Twitter revolutions and Facebook elections, there is a growing belief that information and communication technologies are changing the way democracy is practiced. The discourse around e-government and online deliberation is frequently focused on technical solutions and based in the belief that if you build it correctly they will come. This paper departs from the literature on digital divide to examine barriers to online civic participation in policy deliberation. While most scholarship focuses on identifying and describing those barriers, this study offers an in-depth analysis of what it takes to address them using a particular case study. Based in the tradition of action research, this paper focuses on analysis of practices that evolved in Regulation Room—a research project of CeRI (Cornell eRulemaking Initiative) that works with federal government agencies in helping them engage public in complex policymaking processes. It draws a multidimensional picture of motivation, skill, and general political participation divides; or the “analog” aspects of the digital divide in online civic participation and policy deliberation.

Risk Attitudes and Political Participation

This article contributes to existing explanations of political participation by proposing that citizens’ attitudes towards risk predict participation. I argue that people who are risk accepting participate in political life because politics offers novelty and excitement. Analyses of two independent Internet surveys establish a positive, significant relationship between risk attitudes and general political participation. The analyses also suggest that the relationship between risk attitudes and action varies with the political act: people who are more risk accepting are more likely to participate in general political acts, but they are no more or less likely to turn out in elections. Further analyses suggest that two key mechanisms—novelty seeking and excitement seeking—underlie the relationship between risk attitudes and political participation.

Beyond Coethnic Boundaries: Coethnic Residential Context, Communication, and Asian Americans' Political Participation

This study examines when and where residential context and communicative factors help and hurt Asian Americans’ political participation both within and beyond coethnic boundaries. Using multilevel analyses, this paper found that living in ethnically homogeneous residential areas and using ethnic media increase Asian-related political awareness. However, these coethnic features in their communicative structure did not directly bridge Asian communities to the political participation. Instead, coethnic features indirectly galvanize Asian Americans’ political participation, which may spill over to more general domains of political participation. Ethnic minorities’ participation in political processes is essential for a functioning democracy whose constituents consist of a variety of racial and ethnic origins. Recent conceptualization of multicultural democracy suggests ethnic minorities should be engaged in politics both as members of ‘‘large’’ general publics and ‘‘small’’ ethnically bounded publics. The large general publics address issues and concerns that face the whole population in a nation-state. The small publics articulate and advance group interests that could be neglected by the dominant ethnic groups (Jacobs & Tillie, 2004; Marri, 2003). Despite these normative expectations about minority-group participation, ethnic minorities have been reported to be less likely to engage in politics relative to dominant ethnic groups. In addition, studies found that existing theoretical models of political participation have not adequately explained this participation gap between the dominant and minority groups. Existing theories of ethnic minority participation lack consideration of an integrative communication aspect that might either facilitate or hinder ethnic All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mihye Seo, Room 331, Social Science Building, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, USA. E-mail: mseo@albany.edu minorities’ participation in general and ethnic specific arenas. Political communication research has noted that communicative configuration and processes, both interpersonal and mediated, affect people’s political participation (Ball-Rokeach, Kim, & Matei, 2001; McLeod, Scheufele, & Moy, 1999). An ethnic civic community perspective also highlights key roles of communication in ethnic minority groups’ political participation. This perspective suggests that ‘‘communication fabrics’’ (Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006, p. 173) of ethnic community—communicative ties among and across ethnic group members and ethnic media use—affect the level of ethnic groups’ political participation and trust (Fennema, 2004; Fennema & Tillie, 1999; Jacobs & Tille, 2004). Concurring with the importance of the communicative approach to explain ethnic minorities’ political participation, this study is particularly interested in the Asian American population. Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic minorities in the United States, yet their level of political participation is not proportionate to their population growth (Lai, Cho, Kim, & Takeda, 2001; Tam, 1995). Their political participation level, as well as the number of political elites who represent them, is lower than that of other ethnic groups. Studies show that among situations where ethnic minority groups are not highly participatory, in spite of high social economic status (SES), Asian Americans are a typical example of this anomaly (e.g., Cain, Kiewiet, & Uhlaner, 1991; Tam, 1995). Therefore, using a sample of Asian Americans, this study examines the political implications of ethnically homogeneous residential areas and ethnic media reliance: Whether or not the coethnic features of communicative factors encourage or inhibit ethnic minorities’ political participation. Ethnic Minority and Political Participation The task of including ethnic minorities and their voices into the mainstream public sphere is a priority in most democratic societies. Theoretical models developed to explain general political participation have been tested in order to explicate ethnic minorities’ political participation. For instance, the most prominent and widely supported model of political participation is based on SES, which argues that higher status individuals, relative to lower status individuals, are more likely to have better tools enabling them to be politically engaged (Conway, 1991; Gimpel, Lay, & Schuknecht, 2003; Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993). In addition, those with higher SES are believed to obtain greater benefits from political involvement than those of lower status (Campbell, Converse, Miller, & Stokes, 1960; Key, 1964). While the general importance of SES for explaining participation is clear, SES is a less robust predictor for minority group political participation. In fact, the B E Y O N D C O E T H N I C B O U N D A R I E S 339

The Role of Perceptions of Media Bias in General and Issue-Specific Political Participation

Despite a large body of literature documenting factors influencing general political participation, research has lagged in understanding what motivates participation regarding specific issues. Our research fills this gap by examining the interplay of perceptions of media bias, trust in government, and political efficacy on individuals' levels of general and issue-specific political participation. Using survey data with indicators related to general political participation, our results demonstrate that perceptions of media bias overall are negatively related to general political participation. Moreover, this relationship is an indirect one, mediated by trust in government and political efficacy. Using survey data with indicators of issue-specific political participation in the context of stem cell research, our results show that—contrary to the relationship found for general political participation—perceptions of media bias are directly and positively associated with issue-specific participation. Implications for political participation and media bias theories are discussed.

Broadening Participation Through E‐Petitions? An Empirical Study of Petitions to the German Parliament

AbstractPetitioning is a well established form of political participation in most liberal democracies, but little is known about petitioners, their socio‐demographics, motivations and assessments of petitioning processes. In 2005, the German parliament introduced public e‐petitions which are submitted, signed and discussed on the Internet. This article reports a 2007 survey of 571 traditional and 350 e‐petitioners. The results indicate that both petitioner samples are characterised by an above average level of general political participation and Internet use. Users of the e‐petition system are younger than traditional petitioners, but the group continues to be dominated by men and those with higher levels of formal education than traditional petitioners. E‐petitions seem to amplify existing inequalities in participation patterns as they predominately attract highly mobilised and politically active individuals with a disproportionately high socio‐economic status.

Efeitos do contexto educativo nas concepções, atitudes e comportamentos políticos dos jovens - comparando o ensino secundário regular com o ensino profissional de aprendizagens em alternância

This paper presents the results of a study conducted with 349 students from two distinct educational contexts: academic and vocational schools. Differences are analysed in terms of citizenship conceptions, political interest, political efficacy, future political activity, and political experiences. Results indicate that students from vocational schools present higher levels of political efficacy and Internet use as a way of political participation, comparing with students from academic schools. On the other hand, the latter present higher levels of general political participation.

Connecting News Media Use with Gaps in Knowledge and Participation

This article examines the relative size of gaps in knowledge and participation between the more and less educated as they vary by the quantity and type of news media use. We predicted that the gap between high and low education groups would be smaller among heavy television news users than among light users, whereas the gap between high and low education groups would be larger among heavy newspaper users than among light users. We also predicted that the gap in general political participation but not votingwould be greater among both heavy television news users and heavy newspaper users than among light news users. These predictions were based on logic derived from the communication effects gap hypothesis, the cognitive psychology of learning, and research on political behavior. Analyzing data collected as part of the American National Election Study during the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign, we found that gaps in knowledge between higher and lower education groups were greater among light than heavy users of television news. A similar pattern was found for knowledge gaps across levels of newspaper use, but this pattern was weaker and may possibly be attributed to ceilings imposed by the nature of the test or a natural ceiling in the information domain. By contrast, neither television news use nor newspaper use was related to gaps in voting; however, newspaper use, but not television news use, was related to gaps in general political participation.

Men, women, and the environment: An examination of the gender gap in environmental concern and activism

Abstract Relatively little information yet exists regarding gender differences in environmental concern and activism. What information is available has so far provided a mixed picture, with some studies indicating men to be more concerned than women, others indicating women to be more concerned, and still others finding no significant differences. This study provides additional evidence from national survey data. From these data, women were found to express greater concern for the environment than men before and after applying multivariate controls for age, education, labor force/homemaker status, and other variables. However, the magnitude of the differences was not great. Gender differences in environmental activism provided an ironic contrast. Even though women indicated somewhat greater concern, rates of environmental activism for women were substantially lower than for men. Furthermore, these differences were greater than differences in rates of general political participation and persisted in spite ...

Three Routes To Political Party Participation

PARTICIPATION in political party activities has been investigated by numerous researchers in recent years, but most of these studies have examined only party leaders such as precinct committeemen and county chairmen.' A few studies have focused on volunteer party workers2 or party members (in Europe) ,3 but virtually none have covered the full range of party participation. Moreover, most of this previous research has focused on the motivations or incentives that lead people to party involvement and has given little attention to social factors that might influence participation in party affairs.4 Those few studies that have given serious attention to social variables have generally not attempted to carry their analysis beyond reporting zero-order relationships.5 The literature on general political participation, meanwhile, says very little about party activism. Lane did not distinguish among any of the various types of political activity.6 Key gave only brief attention to party activists, noting simply that they tend to have above-average education, occupations, and incomes.7 Milbrath included several different forms of party participation in his hierarchy of political involvement, but did not specifically examine any of these activities.8 Alford identified attendance at political meetings as one of four basic types of