An attempt is made to test the hyp that the more homogeneous the SE bases of pol'al parties, the weaker the r between soc participation & SL. 3 countries are compared: the US, Great Britain, & West Germany. Though it was not found to be possible to order the latter 2 nations re the degree of association between SL & degree of participation, the hyp seems supportable if the US is compared with Great Britain on the one hand, & West Germany on the other. IPSA Tr by A. Potter.
Argues that the ideas of representation & political participation are at the heart of democracy. However, over the past 200 years concepts & practices have changed. States that it is generally agreed that there is a crisis at present in both areas. Cites as evidence lower voting participation with the result that elected officials are no longer representative of the population. Identifies voter apathy & lack of confidence in systems & individuals as a source. Maintains collective life suffers as a result with excessive individualism & disaffection as consequences. Further, introduces the role of new technologies as an influence. Generalizing about contributions to this edition of the journal, notes the awareness that political parties are on the decline while other group-oriented movies (rights movements, ecological movements) are flourishing. Observes petitions, strikes, demonstrations exist apart from standard elective politics. These facts provide a context for social science when investigating the reality of non-participation. Classical approaches are said not to apply in all instances. To this end contributors make use of some important & original methodologies. In other instances, they seek to explain the emergence of the changes observed. Such longstanding issues as Quebec sovereignty are addressed with research showing differences among groups of young Canadians. Political participation among young artists is at the heart of one essay. New methodology, involving interactive technology, is introduced in this contribution. Issues addressed include the role of context (social, social, institutional, political) in fashioning individual political behavior. In addition to individuals, groups have been studied in how coalitions have renewed political participation, expression of citizenship, & other forms of organized engagement. Conscious of adopting an iconoclastic approach to political participation, the authors regard themselves as describing a form of mobilization in process of development because these coalitions have the potential of replacing more official forms of political organization. Parallel to this is the increase in purely local politics, especially when it comes to ecological issues. Such developments raise issues about political spaces where the population is more eager to participate in small neighborhood spaces & less likely to do so in larger municipal spaces. In such instances, life space & political space become synonymous. This point of view has a serious effect on representation & participation. Generational differences also figure importantly here as well since young (18 to 30 years old) differ from their elders. Finally, mentions new forms of participation: Internet mobilization, for example. R. Ruffin
An analysis of two types of political participation in Belgium, conventional affiliation & political protest, shows that overall participation is low throughout the country. Guttman techniques were used to develop one-dimensional, hierarchical scales of conventional participation & protest, which allowed the evaluation of the real involvement of each individual. Of the 1,500 people interviewed in 1984, some 90% were involved in no more than 3 political action events, eg, reading &/or listening to the media, & political discussion. Independent variables such as gender, occupation, level of schooling, & income affected political participation. Political protest was considered as means of expression & a demonstration of the nonrepresentation of minorities in the political power structure. Protest was linked most significantly with age, level of schooling, & union membership. These results are contrasted with those of 5 other countries -- the US, GB, Germany, Austria, & the Netherlands. 14 Tables, 1 Appendix. J. Sadler
Scores of well-known artists have been publicly active in Quebec politics since the Quiet Revolution. However, there is surprisingly little empirical data on the political participation of the artistic community as a whole. An extensive survey questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 470 Francophone artists in Quebec from every major creative and interpretive discipline. The survey's results confirm an exceptional level of politicization: artists in Quebec attempt to influence their friends' voting habits, they contribute more often to political parties than the rest of the population, and they are more likely to attend a rally or to do work for a political party. The data reveal a high degree of nationalist mobilization, regardless of social status, and notwithstanding government or peer pressure, the promise of personal gain, and ethnic resentment. In reality, the political zeal of artists is best explained by the perceived economic, linguistic, and cultural advantages of sovereignty. Adapted from the source document.
Over the last fifteen years, there has been an abundance of literature on governance & local democracy. This has drawn on the transformations of the role of the state in western democracies & on more & more manifest civilian resistance to politics; as a result, the local has been considered as the matrix from which reformulating political unity on more participation & less focus on politicians is then possible. This particularly applies to the metropolis where social, economic, environmental issues are more intense. This article aims at assessing the impact of participation over the transformation of the political order in the metropolis. It focuses on the seeming questioning of an elected official, on the impact of empowerment, & on the transformations of citizenship. Adapted from the source document.
Examines correlations between participation rates at municipal elections in medium and small French towns and various socioeconomic variables; 1983 data, chiefly. Summary in English p. 184.
