Political Participation

Political culture as a concept is recent. It is credited to Gabriel Almond (1956) as a unifying idea to help understand how people who work together and share common beliefs and common expectations, deal with political issues (Almond, 2006: 393). Keep in mind that the main function of politics is to decide how power is used and how benefits are distributed. Whoever can get political power decides on the process of governing, even on the nature and content of constitutional documents. It is one thing to have guidance through formal or informal laws and regulations and another thing to understand how the rules and processes are understood and applied in a way that gives an advantage to one social class while hurting other classes.

The concept of individualism became popular as the result of social movements at the end of the 18th century. Individualism was often said to be the foundation for the kind of democracy practiced in the United States. The United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 says that the individual is the most important part of a democracy. Understanding this concept helps explain that the values of the individual were seen as more important than those of political groups, of levels of government, and, of course, the leadership of the British monarchy. Social systems were expected to support the individual’s desire for self-fulfillment and happiness. This was the official expectation of government, even though the actual communities that people lived in set different rules and standards of behavior for the sake of social protection, for national security, and for the economy. Other governments since then have reflected the same idea of values centered on the wellbeing of the individual.

Voting: From a base of informed judgment, the individual participates by voting in elections at both local and state levels. This would reflect knowledge from interactive political discussions among peers or from reading political material. Informed judgment also provides a good basis to influence others, especially representative political leaders already in elected office.

Social mobility, such as people moving for workor family reasons, creates a different perspective for each individual interest. Many individuals are content to remain within a closed community,working near their homes. They seek neighborhoodsupports such as traffic lights and garbage collection.Others who are required to travel great distances and who seek more mobility are less interested in local support in favor of good trains, busses, and roads. These two groups of people seek different supports from government, possibly debating the way that government money is distributed. In a more global sense, the degree of democracy or supporting people’s need to make a living and pursue a decent life may or may not be a concern for the individual. If an individual has no need to express a lack of resources the level of interest in democracy focused on the liberal distribution of allowances and benefits is lower than if an individual experiences difficulties in how society limits his/her ability toward personal fulfillment.

Voter turnout (not to be confused with number of registered voters) is the percentage of eligible voters who actually
cast a ballot in an election.

Another example of participation by the individual results from concerns about what is learned when studying the differences in law or policy between different governments, and how each government behaves according to
these conditions. An individual reacting to what is considered bad government behavior can result in civil disobedience. Faced with punishment, an individual deciding to disobey a law should consider if illegal behavior to show anger is worth punishment from the legal system, which is designed to protect the state.

Voting is considered fundamental to the practice of democracy. Being able to vote requires systems to accommodate
means available to the individual to cast a vote. Unsupportive regulations for voting could prevent an individual from registering or even from accessing voting mechanisms. The loss of means to take advantage of a right inherent in the democracy is a cause for concern, and a means to participate toward demonstrating this concern must be found.

An individual can abide by laws and social expectations as part of personal morality, but circumstances may occur contrary to how the individual finds success. Attempts to seek resolution of problems interfering with personal progress canlead to a dead-end, closing off all options for relief. Out of desperation the individual may resort to illegal acts to find a means to improve conditions. Indirectly, the individual may develop problems about restrictive rules. A form of redress must be found, and an effective participation to bring about this redress is needed.

We saw earlier that religion can sit in competition with government over the issue of sovereignty. Morality, as a system of supporting beliefs, can come in conflict when rules for one source of sovereignty conflict with
those of the other. Wearing of personal items to demonstrate allegiance to one religion might be regarded as insulting to another religion. Conflicts may also occur because of the tension between science and religion. Another issue of concern to government, one that causes participation from both sides of an issue, results from the idea of evolution. Whether or not views as a result of scientific study or those resulting from a belief in “creation” are accurate, differences of opinion about what constitutes civil rights might result. Issues such as abortion and assisted suicide come under dispute. Social laws can be contentious. In a democracy claiming equal support to all citizens, is it not surprising that laws satisfying one element may conflict with supporters of other elements?

Lobby groups promote issues such as increasing corporate influence on government, reforming government policy related to social activities, and addressing how law enforcement is supported. Concerns are more specific than both general ideological issues of political parties and temporary problems experienced by citizens in their daily lives.

Just as citizens join together in political groups that are mostly based on special issues, they also organize themselves in work units or trade unions. Their objective in this type of participation is to gain strength in numbers to lobby for collective bargaining, workplace safety, higher wages, and better benefits. 

Participation, no matter at what level, can be beneficial when it results in benefits to the society in which the
individual lives. On the other hand, participating based on incomplete or faulty understanding could result in unfavorable government policy or action. In short, we evaluate actions that are positive, and how these actions can result in helpful policy, and what outcomes are expected from them. The reasons to participate cover a broad range of interests.

Seeds for the concept of the individual as king were expressed during the Protestant Reformation, which was inspired by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others, during the 16th century. This movement tried to place individual behavior above the strict rules of the Catholic Church. Together it was claimed that rather than through discipline administered by organized religion, individuals were naturally able to speak directly with God. More importantly, perhaps,
individuals were right to resist the corrupt behavior of the Church.

Egoism and rationalism

Europe has an environment with more potential for active participation for individuals due to the influences of democracy. From roots in liberalism, individuals have a stronger desire to support selfinterest than for ancestral values found in oriental cultures. In societies that are still in many ways reacting to the effects of two world wars, one might expect to find less cultural influence on politics. Interplay from allied forces, with military interaction, goes against the idea that Europe has a single political identity. Europe could have a distinct political culture that would have to accommodate how different countries rebuild their societies and the governments protecting them.

The United States is dominated by two major parties, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, although lesser parties appear at elections to represent interests and issues that are not on the agenda of the major parties.

In Brazil, there are four major parties, but the political influence of each depends on changes in political-economic issues that tend to be volatile. Nevertheless, their political span includes a worker’s party, a democratic movement party, a social democrat party, and a lesser democrat party.

France has many political parties, running to as many as eleven in first round national elections, but run-off elections
tend to support conservative, social democrat, communist, and nationalist candidates. In the 2017 French national election for president, a new party (La République En Marche) appeared to benefit from political issues underserved by the previous two presidents.

Interest group dynamics are complex. Dependency on large membership for support makes them vulnerable to limited interests of citizens to participate. Because of the large membership of the group, support for financial matters are required. Also, receiving the attention of elected officials who are responsible for policies addressed are required. Some groups draw support from greater numbers of citizens than directly involved in the issues supported. Levels of participation may be exaggerated. Subsequently, some issues may be relevant to minority interests but can win the support of the majority of citizens.

Some states such as Sweden and Canada have welcoming policies, while the United States and the United
Kingdom are implementing strict laws to limit immigration. Germany changed from an initial policy of accepting immigrants to more recently implementing policy to restrict immigration. Some states, such as France and Italy, appear to have little control over their respective borders due to the geography that makes them candidate for massive immigration, either from Eastern Europe or from North Africa. The benefits in liberal policy were seen in how immigrants could contribute to unmet labor needs. However, social costs seemed not to have been accommodated in existing fiscal policies.