Political Participation under Democracy

Transcription

1 Political Participation under Democracy Daniel Justin Kleinschmidt Cpr. Nr.: POL-PST.XB December 19 th, 2012 Political Science, Bsc. Semester 1 International Business & Politics Question: 2 Total Number of words: 3502 STU count: Total Pages: 13 Signature:

2 This assignment compares different modes of political participation in a democratic state. The first part provides a theoretical definition of democracy, highlighting its core-point, rule by the people, and how this coheres with Dahl s developing democracy theory. The second part describes the eminence of political participation and gives a short preview of the three main modes of political participation worked with in this assignment. The third part then starts with a deeper description of political parties, followed by stating their strengths. Since the appearance of parties is influenced by the electoral system the next section explains the Duverger s Law and states its impact on the degree of political participation. Thereafter the model of referendums is illustrated and its pro s and con s are discussed. Followed by a thorough introduction of social movements and a discussion of its strengths and weaknesses. Describing and discussing interest groups then round off the third part. The last section consists of a final comparison of the three modes and ends with an overall conclusion stating the result of this assignment. Democracy is a form of government that bases its principles upon the main core: Rule by the People. Within political science there are different definitions of democracy, concentrating on different aspects: Schumpeter s definition of democracy is a procedural definition, weighting the process of making political decisions highest. A process where individuals receive the power to adjudicate political decisions through competition for the people s free vote in free elections. Dahl on the other hand formulated a definition that goes beyond this process by requiring the inclusion of constitutional guarantees and the predominance of, among others, citizenship, adult-suffrage, the ability to run for office, elected officials, the right to oppose and vote out the government, all in order to enable the citizen to actual participation in the political life (Peter Mair in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Further democracy must ensure people s freedom of association and belief, and support the rights of minorities. Within democracy the government is accountable to their people, and shall secure the people s ability to rule themselves, instead of being ruled upon (Freedom House, 2012). 3

3 Dahl described the process of developing democracy through the accomplishment of three important milestones. The first step, Incorporation, provides the citizens with the right of participation in the political life, which, according to Dahl, is fulfilled through the citizen s ability of voting in elections. This leads to the Representation step that contains the people s right to be represented by parties, thus to be allowed to organize parties, which can work in the parliament on equal terms with other parties. The right of participation through elections supports the democracies main principle, rule by the people, because not all citizens can participate in politics on a daily basis, so they elect a representative, who participates for them in the political process. The last step is the right of Organized Opposition that enables the people to vote against the government in elections and provides the people with an instrument to react on the government s actions. Even if a party does not gain governmental power in elections, they still represent their voters and can therefore build an opposition and thus have influence on the governmental work, which leads to rule by the people (Peter Mair in Caramani: 2011). Political Participation describes the population s participation in and its activity within politics. Hence to the previously given definition of democracy, political participation is of great necessity for democracy and deciding on the extent of rule by the people. Through political participation the citizens can secure their life chances, following their own interests and protecting their rights. Activities such as voting in elections, writing petitions, running for office or being a part of a political campaign, all refer to political participation. Such participation can be exercised publically by publishing demands and thereby creating attention to those demands, or by targeting policymarkers in the governmental apparatus in order to introduce them to the ideas. Within democracy political participation can be done on a single-citizen-base or, as most common, take place through different instruments of the political life, such as social movements, interest groups and political parties (Herbert Kitschelt and Philipp Rehm in Daniele Caramani: 2011). 4

4 A Social Movement is a community consisting of a large number of people, which are united through a common standpoint on a specific issue. The community has no formal organizational core and does not include memberships. Interest Groups are groups, whose participants mainly communicate preferences, demands and threats to policy-makers within the governmental apparatus. Each interest group is formally organized with an explicit membership, and consists of people, who have the same beliefs and points of view within a specific range of themes (i.e. economic groups). Another instrument to participate in politics are political parties. Political parties are political organizations that unite members with the same political beliefs and ideologies. The greatest differences between those three instruments is that social movements concentrate on one specific topic (i.e. equalization of men and women), while interest groups usually have a field of common interests (i.e. economic or religious) and political parties pool people with same ideological beliefs on how the state shall be organized (i.e. conservative or liberal) (Herbert Kitschelt and Philipp Rehm in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Besides the broader range of agreements on contents political parties do as well differ from interest groups and social movements in their field of actions, their functions and organization. The governments of most countries are led by party leaders, which illustrates that political parties can have the ability to work directly at the fount of governmental power. However, parties differ in motivation, organization and behavior, but all consist of a group of citizens that nominate candidates for elections. In those elections each party tries to gain as much political power as possible and competes against other parties for the legitimacy to form the state s government. The gathering of people with same ideological and political beliefs in parties is based on the assumption that coordinated actions usually are more effective and efficient than actions of an isolated individual. Thus, political parties have as function to represent their member s viewpoints, as well as to manage the coordination within both government and society and between those (Richard S. Katz in Daniele Carmani: 2011). 5

5 All functions of political parties steer to the overall main feature of political parties, namely to encourage the population to participate in politics. Through recruitment, the finding of candidates for offices competing in elections, citizens participate actively either by setting up in those elections, or by casting a vote on one candidate in order to support the candidate s nomination. Another aspect is the representation feature of parties. Not all citizens are able to interact in politics on a daily basis, and therefore representatives are elected to advocate for the citizens. Those representatives are often party members, and receive support for their election campaign from their fellow party members. Almost all parties have some form of membership, which has the purpose to connect the members with the party. Official membership let the members feel more responsible for their party and increases the level of activity within party actions. Further, parties have the task to inform the population about the happenings in politics and can by that encourage more people to participate in politics (Richard S. Katz in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Political parties are crucial for the existence of democracy and the carrying out of the rule by people. They form the main instance for citizens to participate in politics on an efficient level. The number of political parties, and therefore as well the degree of possible political participation is influenced by the prevailing electoral system for elections. In general, elections are the central instrument to link the citizens and their representatives. Those representatives are determined through elections and they form the political class, which is the decision-making apparatus of a democratic state. The characteristics of the electoral system have therefore a great impact on the appearance of the political system. According to the Duverger s Law, a majoritarian electoral system, where the strongest party in the constituency wins the seat, induces to a two-party system, while the PR electoral system, which shares the seats proportionally to each parties share of votes, leads towards a multi-party system and therefore secures a high level of proportionally and a fair share of representation (Michael Gallagher in Daniele Caramani: 2011). 6

6 As the Duverger s Law describes the impacts of electoral systems on a state s party system, it can be argued that under the PR-system more parties exist, and hence covering more different political beliefs and therefore give the population a higher ability to choose the party that fits best to the individual citizens political persuasion (Michael Gallagher in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Under a two-party system, citizens with minority beliefs may have to give up some of their beliefs, because if they want to be influential they have to vote for one of the big parties, which may just represent parts of the individual s beliefs, and this could decrease the motivation for political participation. If none of the big parties is appealing to the individual citizen, the person may not bother to vote, because the party that represents the minority beliefs has just a small chance of winning. The chance for this scenario to happen in a multi-party system is much smaller, because various different parties are prevailing. Due to the greater degree of representation and individuality in a multi-party system, political participation of the population is encouraged on a higher level in such a system. The population of a state can be asked to cast a vote in elections, and in some states as well in referendums. A referendum is a device that enables the mass electorate to vote on a public issue. The model of a referendum is not used to elect an individual to a position, like the president. It is an institution within the representative democracy, but it is not executed in every representative democracy. A referendum can either be optimal, what implies voluntary participation, or mandatory, which is decided in the state s constitution. Referendums can be brought up by the population (initiative referendum), through a request of a minimum number of voters supporting the request, which then enables the voters to a popular vote, or a political institution can initiate such a referendum (Michael Gallagher in Daniele Caramani: 2011). 7

7 The mode of political participation through referendums has both weaknesses and strengths. It can be argued that the population becomes more influential and powerful through the use of referendums. They get the power to take part in the agenda setting, by independently bringing special issues up for discussion and a popular vote. On the contrary it can be argued that the people could act as veto-player against the governmental apparatus, in order to punish the sitting government, which may be unpopular at the time of the referendum, and therefore rejects their proposition. However, decisions made by a referendum do not lack support from the citizens and are seen as more legitimized and approved than decisions made by just the government. Some critics see the referendum as jeopardy, because the voters can be manipulated by the medias and access wrong information through the Internet. In contrast supporters argue that a referendum will educate the citizens about the issue that is up for vote and even increase people s interest in politics. But it could also happen that people may just think about their own benefits, instead about the whole nations benefits (Michael Gallagher in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Another concern is that the people may be under-educated about the topic and decide on their vote based on stereotypes, instead of letting the elected representatives, who work with politics every day and who have a great knowledge about political issues, decide. Referendums could therefore lead to decreasing importance of those representatives and hence to that as well decrease the importance of political parties, because with increasing numbers of referendums the policy-making function of parties reduces. On the other hand referendums can loosen the dependence on political parties, due to the fact that the population has another way to take part in the policy-making process (Michael Gallagher in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Combining pro s and con s it can be stated that a referendum is a strong instrument in representative democracy that increases the meaning of the rule by the people -principle of democracy, but as well includes weaknesses and becomes more expendable to perform the bigger the state is, therefore it could be categorized as useful instrument when deciding on major public issues and seen as additional tool of political participation, not as basic tool. 8

8 Social Movements are another mode of political participation and consists of a group of people, who share a common identity, belief or interest and based upon that act collectively to support their common persuasion in a conflict with clearly identified opponents. The people being a part of the social movement are connected through their common interest and are agreeing on collective actions in order to achieve their goal. Social Movements work as kind of a network, connecting people with a same belief about a specific issue to achieve goals together, instead of acting alone. Such a social movement usually deals with one specific issue (i.e. the women s movement to improve women s rights) and can exist for just a short time or for a long time; until the goals are achieved. There is no form of membership in a social movement, it can rather be called a gathering of people who have the same point of view on one issue, but that does not necessarily mean that they have other compliances. Parties and interest groups can be a part of a social movement (Hanspeter Kriesi in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Since there is no formal organization and no regular access to policy-makers, a social movement has to draw attention to spread their cause on another way. This can be achieved by protesting and through that gaining media attention, which can start a public discussion about their case and at some point the attention grows intense so that the policy-makers are forced to react to the movement s claims. By gaining attention, other people become attentively and the number of followers grows higher. Another form of drawing attention is through information politics. This describes researching and publishing of the gained information about their case, and through that gain media attention and spreading of their message, causing the movement to grow bigger. Both ways of drawing attention requires participation, whether it is to join the demonstration or to help gaining new information. (Hanspeter Kriesi in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Analyzing the model of social movements with respect to political participation, it can be stated that it comprises both pro s and con s. A social movement deals with only one issue and thus can be seen as restricted. Since there is no formal organization in a social movement there is a risk that it 9

9 can be misused for some other purposes, which the followers do not support. Positively it can be said that a social movement connects people who normally have different viewpoints, but agree on the specific issue. The feeling of attachment to the movement may shrink with time, because there is no form for membership, everybody can enter or exit the movement, which can as well be turned to a strength, because it is easy to join, and therefore may attract people who usually do not participate politically. On the other hand there is a risk that some people take advantage of the peacefully demonstrations and begin to use violence and thereby threaten the public safety. However, social movements benefit from the faster growing communication and online networks, which make it easier to gain attention. This coincides with the greater demand of transparency, which social movements fulfill. Since they usually do not have direct excess to policy-makers they instead have to communicate and negotiate through the media, which makes social movements more accessible and transparent (Hanspeter Kriesi in Daniele Caramani: 2011). Social movements depend on the extent to which people support and believe in their persuasion, and are therefore not sufficient political participation, rather an instrument to follow one specific concern particular besides other modes of political participation. Interest Associations are groups that represent their member s interest within specific fields. They are not participating in elections, but make claims to the government to achieve goals in their member s interests. The members are usually connected with each other through their field of interest (i.e. business associations pursue interest of their business members). Interest associations have different ways to achieve their interests: Direct Lobbying defines activities that aim to influence the government directly. Political Exchange is characterized by the trading between a government and an interest group, where the government for example receives expert knowledge on the industry, while the interest group receives access to the policy-making process. Another tactic is Contentious Politics, which covers strikes organized by the interest group. This is often seen as the last action of an interest group, in order to point out the importance of their issue and to pressure the opposite side. The last strategy is Private Interest Government, where the government agrees to issues brought up by interest groups, and binds itself to decision made (i.e. government agreed to support agriculture). The more resources an interest association has, the higher is its influence on the decision-makers and on policy outcomes (Roland Erne in Daniele Caramani: 2011). 10

10 Interest Associations seem to be very powerful instruments to influence the governmental apparatus, and hence are able to follow their member s interests. But they can as well be seen as too powerful, because depending on their size and financial resources, they are able to outplay the government on specific issues regarding the interests of their members. This decreases the government s independence. On the contrary, supporters of interest groups argue that instead of outplaying the government, interest groups cooperate with the government in such a way, that both sides gain from the cooperation. Against that, it can be said that the way interest association influence policy-making is too hidden and concealed so that no clear insight is possible. Further in can be argued whether interest groups achieve influence and results to enhance the common good, or if it is just in the interest of its members (Roland Erne in Daniele Caramani: 2011). It is not clear to which extent Interest Groups actually are modes of political participation of the population or if they rather are powerful instruments to influence the government to enhance just a few s interests. A final comparison of the different modes of political participation, namely political parties, social movements and interest associations summarizes that not all of those modes match with democracy s main aspect, people s ability to rule themselves. Political parties can be seen as the main tool for political participation of citizens. Through their existence for a long time, people are familiar with this system and it knit up with democratic government. To even enlarge the political participation of the population it could be broadened by using referendums for major decisions, presuming full access to information. Further political participation can be argued to be strongest in a multi-party system with a PR electoral system, which cooperates with the rule by the people. As additional participation tool social movements are ideal if a citizen is interested in a specific issue. They are important, because a political party may not support one specific issue with such drive, because a party does not want to chase away other members by taking too extreme points of view. The people can hence use social movements as additional instrument of political participation enhancing the meaning of rule by the people. Finally Interest Groups do not seem to fit into the field of political participation with respect to rule by the people- it rather seems to be rule by people who are best at selling their interests. They concentrate a lot of power within them, even though they are no official instruments of democracy and do not get controlled through elections and are therefore the least democratic mode of political participation. 11

11 This assignment compared different modes of political participation in democracies with each other and with respect to democracy s fundamental feature, rule by the people. The discussion arrives at the statement that political parties fulfill the basic principle of democracy the most and provides an idea of how the highest level of political participation could be achieved. Further it says that political participation through political parties could be supplemented through participation in social movement. The least coherences are found between rule by the people and interest groups, which, following out of this discussion, do not meet the criterions of the fundamental feature of democracy. Due to the assignment s limitations in both time and length, this assignment does not cover the theme of political communication as a mode of political participation, but rather discussed and compared political parties, social movements and interest groups with each other. 12

12 Reference List Erne, Roland (2011). Interest Associations, in Daniele Caramani (eds), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, New York, pp Gallagher, Michael (2011). Elections and Referendums, in Daniele Caramani (eds), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, New York, pp Katz, Richard S. (2011). Political Parties, in Daniele Caramani (eds), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, New York, pp Kitschelt, Herbert and Philipp Rehm (2011). Political Participation, in Daniele Caramani (eds), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, New York, pp Kriesi, Hanspeter (2011). Social Movements, in Daniele Caramani (eds), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, New York, pp Mair, Peter (2011). Democracies, in Daniele Caramani (eds), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, New York, pp Freedom House: About Us [Web Page]. URL,