Institutional Political Participation Research Articles

Determinants of Institutionalized Political Participation in Elderly Women

This study explores the factors affecting elderly women's institutional political participation. The inverse relationship between economic status and participation may be attributed to poverty constraining the political engagement capabilities of elderly women, while traditional media, especially television, enhances it by providing easily accessible information resources. In contrast, new media shows minimal influence, hinting at a generational digital divide or preference for traditional information channels. Surprisingly, close social circles, notably neighbors and friends, deter participation, possibly reflecting deep-rooted norms or localized echo chambers. These findings highlight the complex interplay of factors shaping political engagement among elderly women and suggest a need for tailored strategies to promote their active involvement in institutional politics.

Income Status, Perceived Equity of Income Distribution and Political Participation

Popular political participation is an essential aspect of political modernization. Existing studies have focused on institutional political participation, such as voting in elections, and have primarily explained political participation from objective perspectives, such as income status. However, there has been some neglect of non-institutional political participation. In studies affecting political participation, subjective perceptions of the equity of income distribution and their interaction with income have yet to receive sufficient attention. Based on this, this paper uses data from the fourth round (2014-2016) of the 2016 Asian Barometer (ABS) survey to analyze the impact of income status and perceived equity of income distribution on political participation and the mechanisms of their effects through multiple regressions. The results indicate that income and perceived equity of income distribution have a positive effect on institutional political participation; in terms of impact mechanisms, income status and perceived equity of income distribution affect institutionalized political participation by influencing government satisfaction and political trust; subjective perceptions of equity of income distribution influence institutional political participation behavior more than income inequality; the paper concludes by applying social capital theory to explain the finding that income status and perceived income distribution equity are positively associated with non-institutionalized political participation in terms of the participant path and the dominant path.

The ‘participationnist state’ and the ‘apathetic citizen’: Educationalizing the ‘problem of non–voting’ in postwar Switzerland (1940s–1970s)

ABSTRACT Should citizens be educated into voting? Is non-voting a ‘problem’ for democracies, and, if yes, can it be educationalized? This article examines public debates on non-voting and its ‘educationalization’ in post-war Switzerland, in order to analyse the renegotiation of citizenship norms and ideals at a time when the priority of voting over other, non-institutional forms of political participation was increasingly contested. With a longstanding emphasis on (male) citizens’ participation in institutional politics, Switzerland as a ‘participationist state’ is an interesting case study to observe tensions surrounding participation and its promotion among citizens. After the Second World War, Swiss political elites had already reinforced their efforts to cultivate voting as a ‘civic duty’ among young men, as they feared a weakening of the ‘citizen-soldier’ ideal. With the further rise and associated problematization of non-voting in the 1960s and 1970s, attempts to curb this phenomenon through educational measures peaked, but encountered latent or open resistance. The difficulties (or the impossibility) of educationalizing non-voting thus revealed a growing disconnect between the dominant (and gendered) framing of non-voting as a manifestation of an unacceptable passivity to be ‘cured’ by educational measures, and the demand for forms of political participation other than voting articulated by the 1968 social movements. Ultimately, these debates exemplify a series of key tensions in contemporary democracies. The first is the tension between inclusion and exclusion, from the late enfranchisement of women in 1971 to the still-unsettled question of the political role of non-citizen residents. The second is the contested prioritization of voting in relation to other forms of participation. Third and finally, the focus on promoting voting as a ‘civic duty’ collided with the recurrent search for a balance between rights and duties within citizenship, and, linked to that, between emancipatory and paternalist dynamics in attempts to ‘mould’ citizens.

O pulsar do centro da terra: interpretação do apoio zapatista à candidatura presidencial

Resumo Neste trabalho é realizada uma interpretação de um fato político ocorrido entre 2016 e 2017: o anúncio da candidatura de uma representante indígena, que pertence ao Congresso Nacional Indígena, e que tem o apoio dos povos zapatista e do próprio EZLN, para o pleito federal mexicano de 2018. Tal fato político é interpretado frente ao histórico de construção da autonomia pelos zapatistas mexicanos. Ao longo da década de 1990 e 2000, os zapatistas criaram autonomia territorial, bem como formas de organização local e regional (assembleias populares, caracóis, Juntas de buen gobierno etc). Assim, questiona-se: frente à centralidade da construção de autonomia nas práticas zapatistas, o que representa o apoio a participação na política institucional? Parte-se de autores que interpretam a contemporaneidade e principalmente as grandes transformações ocorridas no âmbito político, econômico e social da segunda metade do século XX em diante. Dessa forma, a interpretação de textos de Claus Offe servirá para a compreensão da crise do welfare state e do próprio Estado Nacional, frente ao processo de globalização e retomada do liberalismo econômico. Jürgen Habermas e Zygmunt Bauman foram as bases para a compreensão da crise política que é resultado de todo esse processo. Após essa qualificação teórica, analisa-se o contexto mexicano: a ascensão de governos neoliberais a partir da década de 1980 e o levante zapatista na década de 1990. Por fim, analisa-se o comunicado do CNI publicado no site Enlace Zapatista, no dia 14 de outubro de 2016, em que se propõe uma consulta popular sobre uma candidatura que represente o Congresso Nacional Indígena (CNI) e os zapatistas, bem como a escolha de Maria de Jesus Patricio, também denominada como Marichuy.

Youth, activism, and social movements

AbstractThere has been considerable debate over the extent and role of young people's political participation. Whether considering popular hand‐wringing over concerns about declines in young people's institutional political participation or dismissals of young people's use of online activism, many frame youth engagement through a “youth deficit” model that assumes that adults need to politically socialize young people. However, others argue that young people are politically active and actively involved in their own political socialization, which is evident when examining youth participation in protest, participatory politics, and other forms of noninstitutionalized political participation. Moreover, social movement scholars have long documented the importance of youth to major social movements. In this article, we bring far flung literatures about youth activism together to review work on campus activism; young people's political socialization, their involvement in social movement organizations, their choice of tactics; and the context in which youth activism takes place. This context includes the growth of movement societies, the rise of fan activism, and pervasive Internet use. We argue that social movement scholars have already created important concepts (e.g., biographical availability) and questions (e.g., biographical consequences of activism) from studying young people and urge additional future research.

Impactos do Parlamento Jovem Brasileiro na motivação e participação política partidária dos egressos

O artigo analisa os impactos do Parlamento Jovem Brasileiro (PJB) na participação política institucional dos seus egressos. A análise está baseada em levantamento do tipo survey, com questionário aplicado em 2014 aos egressos do PJB, das edições de 2006 a 2013, totalizando 27,48% deste universo. As conclusões indicam relevante percentual de jovens motivados e participantes na política partidária, o que representa forte contraste com dados de pesquisas com a juventude em geral. Entre os egressos do sexo masculino, há maior motivação e interesse pela política partidária. A principal conclusão é de que, ao promover o letramento político, amplia-se a confiança nas instituições políticas e estimula-se o engajamento partidário, alterando o processo de desencantamento e desinstitucionalização da ação política.

Individual Protest Participation in the United States: Conventional and Unconventional Activism

ObjectivesThis study addresses differences in the predictors of participation in different forms of protest activity using nationally representative data. The two types of protest examined, referred to as conventional and unconventional forms of activism, are differentiated by differing levels of risk, demands, and political legitimacy.MethodsThe analysis uses multinominal logistic regression and data from the World Values Survey to assess the effects of a wide range of independent variables on participation in protest.ResultsThe results indicate that participation in conventional forms of protest, activities that are relatively undemanding, socially legitimate, and low risk, tend to follow patterns that are consistent with participation in institutional politics. That is, participants in this form of activism tend to be socially privileged and ideologically moderate. Participants in unconventional protest, those that are highly demanding, socially illegitimate, or carry substantial risks, tend to be more ideologically extreme, socially disadvantaged, and more alienated from the conventional political system.ConclusionsThe findings in this study suggest that the lack of consistency in some existing research on protest participation may be attributable to differences in the predictors of participation associated with different forms of protest. This study indicates that protest participation is not a unitary construct and should not be treated as one in research.

The Politics of the MST

Examination of the politicization of landless people in the encampments and settlements of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem-Terra (Landless Rural Workers' Movement—MST) in Brazil suggests that the movement's success rest on the fact that it generates relatively autonomous rural communities organized around autonomous political structures that facilitate mobilization. These communities persist because their members, by protecting their right to land from full commoditization, ensuring an adequate production of food, and avoiding the full monetarization of their subsistence needs, are able to mitigate the effects of the market. In addition, in order to secure the survival and development of its settlements, the MST has integrated participation in institutional politics into its mobilization strategy. However, because of the nature of President Lula's policies, the continuity of the traditional alliance between the MST and the Workers' Party is bound to become a major issue.