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THE AUTHORS POSIT A THEORY OF CIVIC DEVELOPMENT THAT FOCUSES ON THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN LEVELS OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION. BECAUSE OF THESE CHANGES, PARTICIPATION AMONG OLDER PERSONS IS HIGHER THAN WOULD OTHERWISE BE EXPECTED. ALTHOUGH THEY BELIEVE THIS WOULD APPLY TO MOST CONVENTIONAL MODES OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, THEY FOCUS ON VOTING PARTICIPATION AND TEST THE THEORY THROUGH A SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF SURVEY DATA FROM NINE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SURVEYS OF THE U.S. NATIONAL ELECTION STUDIES (NES).

An analysis of the operation of the party system in Chile in recent years is presented with an outline of the evolution of the electoral system & concluded with the implications of the operation of that electoral system for policy development within Chile's democracy. Chile's 5 major political parties can be connected to class based electoral support--in the mining districts & the industrial areas of the larger cities for the Communist Party; support from the Wc for the Socialists; Uc support for the National Party; primarily Mc support for the 2 parties at the political center of Chilean politics, the Christian Democrats & the Radicals. Landmarks in legislation governing Chile's electoral system came in 1925, with the institution of the d'Hont system with its joint list characteristic; in 1948 with the outlawing of the Communist Party; in 1949 with women's suffrage; in 1958 with the reinstatement of the Communist Party. The record of Chilean democracy has both equalitarian & elitist aspects. It is equalitarian in that the procedural norms of democracy are carefully observed, but the links betweeen the citizenry & the policy-making process through the political party system are weak. The electoral system with its alternating presidential congressional elections weakens the effectiveness of the president elected because he usally has to deal with a Congress elected under policies differing from his own. Therefore, the overall pattern of Chilean politics makes it difficult to develop policies to deal with important probelms, particulary where longer-term policy consistency is needed. Characteristics of Chilean democracy that have been obstacles to political reforms are the complexity of political structures, diverse powers of a large bureaucracy & of Congress to check a president, the persistency of the multiparty system, & elitist bias. 2 Tables, 2 Figures. S. Coler.

Although a variety of age-related processes are known to affect rates of political participation over the adult life span, little is known about their interrelationships and relative impact. We set out a theory of life span civic development that focuses on how age-related changes in community attachment, strength of partisanship, church attendance, government responsiveness, family income, and civic competence impinge on voting participation. To test the theory, we estimated the coefficients of a structural equation model using data from nine National Election Studies combined into a large, cross-sectional time series data set. The model specifies the age-related processes and also controls for the effects of a large number of other variables. Overall, about one-half of the age-related increases in voting participation were attributable to these processes.