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Core Issues in Comparative Politics (PO233) Module Director: Dr. Renske Doorenspleet Associate Professor in Comparative Politics director Centre for Studies in Democratization Department of Politics and International Studies University of Warwick, UK www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/doorenspleet/ www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/csd/ e-mail: renske.doorenspleet@warwick.ac.uk
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Content Lecture week 15 Political Participation A.How? B.Why? (macro-level) C.Why? (micro-level) D.Paradox of collective action E.Future Research F. Contents of seminar week 18
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A. How? Political participation occurs in a variety of forms: - Voting - Donating - Running for office - Petitions - Boycotting - Organizing unions - Sit-ins
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A. How? Typologies of political participation have been developed along three dimensions: (1) Where it takes place (2) Intensity of involvement (3) The riskiness of political participation
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A. How? Focus is on voluntary participation (though there are examples of forced political participation). Considering that political participation is costly: - Why is there political participation at all? -Why do some people participate while others do not? (micro- level) - Why do some countries have a high level of participation while others do not? (macro-level)
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B. Why? (macro) Regime type is an important determinant of the nature of political participation. But also within democracies there is a huge diversity in political participation: - Level of economic development - Level of democracy - Older democracies? -Multi- or two-party systems
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B. Why? (macro) Voter turnout: - Poorer and more authoritarian countries tend to have much lower turnouts Important other (institutional) factors: - Laws of compulsory voting - Electoral rules (higher turnout in PR) - Registration requirements - Concurrent elections?
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B. Why? (macro) Labour union membership: - Higher membership in industrialized than in developing countries - Membership dependent on regime type - High membership in communist and corporatist authoritarian regimes
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C. Why? (micro) Individual traits that facilitate participation: (1)Resources (2) Orientations (3) Recruitment Besides individual traits, contextual factors are important
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D. Paradox of Collective Action The paradox of collective action: - Political participation is a form of contributing to collective goods - The free-rider problem (Olson 1965) How to overcome the free-rider problem?
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E. Future Research There are many promising research fields in the field of political participation: -The relationship between individual traits and contextual factors (micro and macro) -Why do political entrepreneurs opt for different modes of political participation? -Causes and consequences of the increasing differentiation between modes of political action. Why is there so much and so diverse political action? -Is political participation good or bad for democracy?
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F. Contents of Seminar week 18 Homework seminar week 18: 1) read the required literature of week 15 2) What is political participation? Is political participation good or bad for democracy in your opinion?
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