scholarly journals South Africa’s democracy: The Quality of Political Participation over 25 Years Victoria Graham

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-51
Author(s):  
Victoria Graham

South Africa has made considerable progress since 1994 in institutionalising and consolidating the quality of its democracy. However, serious and persistent governance and socio-economic related problems have angered and frustrated the people and motivated increased protest action through both conventional and less conventional channels. The opportunity for citizens to participate in the political process is essential for a healthy democracy, therefore it is important that appropriate procedures and mechanisms are in place to facilitate this participation. Using quality of democracy methodology, the paper addresses several important questions, namely: how developed are the opportunities for conventional participation in South Arica, and to what extent are these taken up? and, what non-conventional forms of participation exist and what is government’s response? In addressing these questions, this paper explores the link between active citizenship and political participation over the last 25 years with a view to ascertaining the quality of South Africa’s political participation.

Author(s):  
Rehia K. Isabella Barus ◽  
Armansyah Matondang ◽  
Nina Angelia ◽  
Beby Masitho Batubara

Ahead of the 2019 general election which is divided into two stages, namely the Legislative election and the Presidential election. This event is the right moment to find out the political participation of the people at the grass-roots level while at the same time seeing the interaction between the people in the grass-roots and political parties. The interaction that wants to be seen is what forms of political behavior and community participation at the grassroots, as well as how political parties behave in interacting with this community. Then the important point that is also seen is how political parties behave in involving and seeking to raise support from the community. In the end, through this research, it will be known the quality of political participation from the public and electoral political parties in 2019.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Khadga K.C.

Unless Bangladesh will find credible means to change the political culture within which it function, the viability of democracy will remain doubtful. Though it is about four decades of independence, the history of democracy isn’t worth to value its principles in its actual practice. Bangladesh’s democracy is distorted by the malpractices of political power by her politicians. The quality of democracy in the country has been jeopardized by the immature practices and attitudes by its political party, in or out of power. In fact, the democracy in Bangladesh is deprived within/by the practice of democracy itself. Consequently, democracy becomes fragile and cannot run smoothly with its own spirit. It is now widely accepted that Bangladesh is facing a crisis of governance which originates in malfunctioning of the democratic process. The qualitative deterioration of governance leads to raise lack of concern in pursuing democratic values in practice. The people of this country cannot extract favors from democracy rather their interests become somewhat distorted. In this way the steady failure to get better governance could threaten the sustainability of practicing democracy in Bangladesh repeatedly.


2021 ◽  
pp. 157-170
Author(s):  
Carew Boulding ◽  
Claudio A. Holzner

Political participation is frequently taken as an indicator of how well a democracy is working. Chapter 7 considers the relationship in reverse: what impact does quality of democracy have on the ability of poor people to participate in politics? It argues that declines in the quality of democracy have a disproportionately negative effect on the capacity of poor citizens to participate in the political process. The erosion of political rights, attacks on associations, and the erosion of political competition create barriers to participation that are more difficult for low-resource actors to overcome. As a result, where democracy is in trouble, poor people often opt out of politics at higher rates than everyone else.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 328-338
Author(s):  
Melati Dama ◽  
Nur Hasanah ◽  
Sry Reski Mulka

An analytical study on the quality of the political participation of the people of Paser Regency seen from the perspective of gender. This paper is to see how the quality of women's group participation in the public sphere in Paser Regency in this case is participation in the political field. The method used in this paper is descriptive with a qualitative approach, namely the data source in the form of interviews or observations in the field. Based on the findings, the decline in the quality of women's political participation in Paser Regency is related to the cultural perspective of the community in seeing the role of women. In addition, there is a tendency in women to show a lack of motivation and competence.


Author(s):  
Shaun Bowler

This chapter analyzes to what extent variation in political institutions affects political support. The chapter observes that the existing research is not always clear on which institutions should produce what kind of effect, although a general expectation is that institutional arrangements improve political support when they give citizens an increased sense of connection to the political process. In general then, we should expect institutions that strengthen the quality of representation to strengthen political support. This general expectation is specified in six hypotheses that are tested using data from the ESS 2012. The chapter demonstrates that electoral systems that provide voters with more choice about candidates, multiparty governments, and “responsive” legislatures, correlate positively with political support. However, compared to other macro-level factors and individual characteristics, the effects of political institutions on political support are modest. The chapter concludes that the prospects for institutional reform to strengthen political support are limited.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Clark

While much is known about the micro-level predictors of political knowledge, there have been relatively few efforts to study the potential macro-level causes of knowledge. Seeking to improve our understanding of country-based variation in knowledge, this article demonstrates that individuals have an easier time finding and interpreting information in political environments that provide the public with greater opportunities to engage, observe, and learn about the political process. To investigate that possibility, the article analyzes how the procedural quality of the political process affects political knowledge. Using data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and the Worldwide Governance Indicators Project, survey analyses show that the transparency and responsiveness of a political system indeed influence the public’s information about political parties and, to a lesser extent, the amount of factual knowledge retained by survey respondents. In other words, the quality of democratic governance affects how much individuals know about the political process.


1994 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Guedea

Beginning in 1808 the people started to play a prominent role in the political life of Mexico. This article examines the significant growth of popular political participation in the City of Mexico during the period 1808-1812. In particular, it analyzes the substantial role that the people played in the elections of 1812, a role they would continue to play in the early years of the new nation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2489-2498
Author(s):  
Rakesh Kumar

Political participation entails citizens’ engagement to exert influence on the political process and policies in a desired direction. Therein, participation of the youth has significance as a transient yet constantly receiving community with potential to shape the course of history in any society. The activities and functions of youth organizations have been pivotal in effecting changes in the twentieth century Asian socio-political and economic realms. Under the similar circumstances, the People’s Republic of China appears to be continuously evolving its social, economic, political and cultural regimes in response to the fluctuating demands of the citizens and the youth. This Essay fathoms changes in political participations of the youth in China, its implication on the Communist Youth League and how the Communist Youth League responds in the era of Market Economy.


Author(s):  
Mary Elizabeth Fitts

According to the model of coalescence discussed in chapter 4, the political process of merging previously distinct communities should result in the integration of labor and collective identities. In this chapter, mid-eighteenth-century Catawba pottery and items of personal adornment are enlisted to assess whether this was the case for the people living around Nation Ford. Ceramic analysis is used to delineate constellations of practice, thereby providing information about the size of the work groups making pottery as well as the character of interaction between them. Next, patterns in the distribution of artifacts associated with mid-eighteenth-century Catawba adornment, including glass beads and metal fasteners, are examined in an effort to determine if they were being used to communicate generalized Southeastern Indian identities, matrilocal community identities, or both.


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