Quotas and Political Participation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca R. Jensenius
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
The Political ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Electoral Turnout

Chapter 6 examines changes in political participation among voters, focusing on a key indicator in the study of democracies: electoral turnout. Data on state election outcomes between 1974 and 2007 show that turnout plummeted in the first election after constituencies became reserved in the 1970s. Gradually, there was a narrowing gap in voter turnout between SC-reserved and nonreserved constituencies, but after more than 30 years there was still a difference of several percentage points. Exploring the reasons, the chapter shows that this variation in political participation it was not mainly due to caste bias, or feelings of being disempowered, but rather because of the weaker networks and mobilizational capacity of SC politicians. As the political experience and mobilizational capacity of SC politicians has increased, so has voter turnout.

Too sick to vote? Public health and voter turnout in Russia during the 1990s

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese C. Reitan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
The Political ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Regional Data ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Political Resources ◽  
Electoral Turnout

Determinants of political participation and electoral turnout are still of great interest within political science and three broad types of factors have been found to influence turnout significantly; individual or area-specific traits, characteristics of the electoral systems, and features relating to the political climate in individual elections. Within the first group, socio-economic resources, typically education, income, and occupation, have been found to be particularly important. This article proposes that public health is also a relevant form of social and political resources at the aggregate level. Regional data on life expectancy and electoral turnout from Russia—a country with dramatically deteriorated public health during the 1990s—were therefore correlated with each other. Overall, correlations were positive and significant, and there is, then, reason to investigate further the possible relationship between public health and the propensity to turn out at elections.

Independent Candidates and Political Representation in India

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 678-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
SACHA KAPOOR ◽  
ARVIND MAGESAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Vote Share ◽  
The Political ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Independent Candidates

We estimate the causal effect of independent candidates on voter turnout and election outcomes in India. To do this, we exploit exogenous changes in the entry deposit candidates pay for their participation in the political process, changes that disproportionately excluded candidates with no affiliation to established political parties. A one standard deviation increase in the number of independent candidates increases voter turnout by more than 6 percentage points, as some voters choose to vote rather than stay home. The vote share of independent candidates increases by more than 10 percentage points, as some existing voters switch who they vote for. Thus, independents allow winning candidates to win with less vote share, decrease the probability of electing a candidate from the governing coalition by about 31 percentage points, and ultimately increase the probability of electing an ethnic-party candidate. Altogether, the results imply that the price of participation by independents is constituency representation in government.

scholarly journals Citizens local political participation in the Czech Republic: rural-urban comparison

2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
J. Cmejrek
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Administration ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public

The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 in the former Czechoslovakia opened the way to the renewal of the democratic political system. One of the most visible aspects of the Czech political development consisted in the renewal of the essential functions of elections and political parties. On the local level, however, the political process - as well as in other post-communist countries - continued to be for a long time influenced by the remains of the former centralized system wherein the local administration used to be subjected to the central state power. Municipal elections took hold in these countries, however, the local government remained in the embryonic state and a certain absence of real political and economic decision-making mechanism on the local level continued to show. The public administration in the Czech Republic had to deal with the changes in the administrative division of the state, the split of the Czechoslovak federation as well as the fragmentation of municipalities whose number increased by 50 percent. Decision making mechanisms on the local and regional level were suffering from the incomplete territorial hierarchy of public administration and from the unclear division of power between the state administration and local administration bodies. Only at the end of the 1990s, the public administration in the Czech Republic started to get a more integrated and specific shape. Citizens participation in the political process represents one of the key issues of representative democracy. The contemporary democracy has to face the decrease in voter turnout and the low interest of citizens to assume responsibility within the political process. The spread of democratising process following the fall of the iron curtain should not overshadow the risk of internal weakness of democracy. The solution should be looked for in more responsible citizenship and citizens’ political participation. The degree of political participation is considered (together with political pluralism) to be the key element of representative democracy in general terms, as well as of democratic process on the local and regional level. The objective of this paper is to describe the specifics of citizens local political participation in the Czech Republic and to show the differences between rural and urban areas. The paper concentrates on voting and voter turnout but deals also with other forms of citizens political participation.

scholarly journals The Political Geography of Voters and Political Participation: Evidence from Local Election in Suburban Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Pitri Yandri
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Spatial Autocorrelation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
The Political ◽  
Multidimensional Approach ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Relationship Of

The praxis of political issue including voter turnout and political participation does not exist in a vacuum. Therefore, geographical and spatial issues are frequently engaged and even embedded into it. Thus, this article is written with one purpose: to investigate the spatial relationship of voter turnout and their political participation. As stated earlier, the complexity of the political analysis based on geography will take us on a multidimensional approach that includes social, cultural and economy. However, this article starts the discussion from spatial analysis by using a map that illustrates the administrative boundaries of a region, then determining whether one region is adjacent to another. In this case, Moran’s I is used to determine the spatial autocorrelation of voter turnout and political participation. The result indicates that the voter turnout and political participation in one region are adjacent to each other. Possible reasons for the result are discussed in this article.

scholarly journals Det politiske generasjonsgapet

2021 ◽  
pp. 337-360
Author(s):  
Johannes Bergh ◽  
Kari Steen-Johnsen ◽  
Guro Ødegård
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Generation Gap ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Digital Platforms

In the last few years, there has been a rise in political activism among young people across the democratic world. We have seen them protesting against racism and demanding stricter climate policies. This chapter deals with political participation, values and the political agenda of young people in Norway over the last 20 years. Have there been changes over time, perhaps linked to digitalization and globalization, during this period? Have these developments led to a political generation gap between young people, adults and the elderly? Our analyses do indeed reveal an increasing age gap in which young people have different political preferences than persons in the older age groups. While these differences are greater now than at any other point in the last 20 years, they still remain moderate. Young people hold more radical positions on climate policy, they are more liberal concerning immigration, and they are somewhat to the right of the adult population when it comes to economic policy. Voter turnout and other forms of political participation have increased among people under the age of 30. Younger people are more prone to mobilize for political activism on digital platforms through their social networks than people in the older age groups are. Using perspectives from the sociology of generations, we discuss the implications of our findings for the political mobilization of young people in a digital future.

scholarly journals Voter Turnout

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Blais ◽  
Eva Anduiza
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Electoral Turnout ◽  
Over Time

Participating in elections is an essential component of democracy: citizens in democratic political systems are expected to be able to vote and to choose their representatives. Through their vote, either directly in presidential elections or indirectly in parliamentary elections, citizens also select among competing government alternatives. Turnout is thus a central topic in politics. Although turnout is the most widespread form of political participation, many people do not vote. Moreover, turnout varies substantially over time and across types of elections within a country as well as across countries. Who votes and under what conditions people are more likely to turn out are central questions in this literature. Explanations for turnout variation have focused both on individual characteristics (such as age, education, or political attitudes) and contextual features (such as the effect of compulsory voting, electoral systems, or party competition). Far less research has been devoted to the consequences of electoral turnout.

Women in Power and Decision making Positions : Conditions and Restraints

1970 ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Azza Charara Baydoun
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Slow Progress

Women today are considered to be outside the political and administrative power structures and their participation in the decision-making process is non-existent. As far as their participation in the political life is concerned they are still on the margins. The existence of patriarchal society in Lebanon as well as the absence of governmental policies and procedures that aim at helping women and enhancing their political participation has made it very difficult for women to be accepted as leaders and to be granted votes in elections (UNIFEM, 2002).This above quote is taken from a report that was prepared to assess the progress made regarding the status of Lebanese women both on the social and governmental levels in light of the Beijing Platform for Action – the name given to the provisions of the Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. The above quote describes the slow progress achieved by Lebanese women in view of the ambitious goal that requires that the proportion of women occupying administrative or political positions in Lebanon should reach 30 percent of thetotal by the year 2005!

Facing the Challenge of Democracy

2011 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Party Polarization

Citizens are political simpletons—that is only a modest exaggeration of a common characterization of voters. Certainly, there is no shortage of evidence of citizens' limited political knowledge, even about matters of the highest importance, along with inconsistencies in their thinking, some glaring by any standard. But this picture of citizens all too often approaches caricature. This book brings together leading political scientists who offer new insights into the political thinking of the public, the causes of party polarization, the motivations for political participation, and the paradoxical relationship between turnout and democratic representation. These studies propel a foundational argument about democracy. Voters can only do as well as the alternatives on offer. These alternatives are constrained by third players, in particular activists, interest groups, and financial contributors. The result: voters often appear to be shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent because the alternatives they must choose between are shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent.

Perempuan dalam Kungkungan Budaya Politik Patriarkhis

MUWAZAH ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Nurbaity Prastyananda Yuwono
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Awareness ◽  
Cultural Reconstruction ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Women's Networks ◽  
Women's Political Participation

Women's political participation in Indonesia can be categorized as low, even though the government has provided special policies for women. Patriarchal political culture is a major obstacle in increasing women's political participation, because it builds perceptions that women are inappropriate, unsuitable and unfit to engage in the political domain. The notion that women are more appropriate in the domestic area; identified politics are masculine, so women are not suitable for acting in the political domain; Weak women and not having the ability to become leaders, are the result of the construction of a patriarchal political culture. Efforts must be doing to increase women's participation, i.e: women's political awareness, gender-based political education; building and strengthening relationships between women's networks and organizations; attract qualified women  political party cadres; cultural reconstruction and reinterpretation of religious understanding that is gender biased; movement to change the organizational structure of political parties and; the implementation of legislation effectively.

Between the Social and the Political

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-98
Author(s):  
Pia Rowe ◽  
David Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conventional Theory ◽  
Important Relationship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Action Language

While Wood and Flinders’ work to broaden the scope of what counts as “politics” in political science is a needed adjustment to conventional theory, it skirts an important relationship between society, the protopolitical sphere, and arena politics. We contend, in particular, that the language of everyday people articulates tensions in society, that such tensions are particularly observable online, and that this language can constitute the beginning of political action. Language can be protopolitical and should, therefore, be included in the authors’ revised theory of what counts as political participation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document