Abstract
While political culture is the study of people’s attitudes towards government, political participation is the study of actual involvement in it. Political participation is activity by individuals formally intended to influence who governs or how they do so. This chapter examines the overall patterns of citizen involvement in politics. The next chapter looks specifically at participation through the ballot box. Participation by groups rather than individuals is reserved until Chapter 9.
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Key reading
Crouse, T. (1973) The Boys on the Bus (New York: Random House). An entertaining account of how American journalists covered the Presidential Election of 1972. Still well worth reading.
Huntington, S. and Nelson, J. (1976) No Easy Choices: Political Participation in Developing Countries (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press). A tough-minded but penetrating analysis.
Lampert, N. (1990) ‘Patterns of Participation’ in Developments in Soviet Politics, ed. S. White, A. Pravda and Z. Gitelman (Basingstoke: Macmillan), pp. 120–36. Reviews participation in the USSR, both before and during the era of reform.
Marsh, A. (1990) Political Action in Europe and the USA (Basingstoke: Macmillan). A summary of a classic comparative study of attitudes to unorthodox participation.
Milbrath, L. (1981) ‘Political Participation’ in The Handbook of Political Behaviour, vol. 4, ed. S. Long (New York: Plenum), pp. 197–240. A good review of research on political participation.
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© 1992 Rod Hague, Martin Harrop and Shaun Breslin
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Hague, R., Harrop, M., Breslin, S. (1992). Political Participation. In: Comparative Government and Politics. Comparative Government and Politics. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22276-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22276-6_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-55820-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-22276-6
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