The politics of participation

Is democracy in crisis? Not according to this book! In this fascinating study, Professor Qvortrup shows that citizens are engaged in politics like never before by voting in referendums and participating in demonstrations and other forms of 'low politics'.

Is democracy in crisis? Not according to this book! In this fascinating study, Professor Qvortrup shows that citizens are engaged in politics like never before by voting in referendums and participating in demonstrations and other forms of 'low politics'.

We live in an age of democracy. Very few people challenge the virtues of ‘government by the people’, yet politicians and commentators are fond of decrying the ‘crisis of democracy’. How do these views square up?This book provides the answer by surveying the philosophical history of democracy and its critics and by analysing empirical data about citizen participation in Britain and other developed democracies.In addition to analysis of major political thinkers like Plato, Machiavelli and J.S. Mill, the book analyses how modern technology has influenced democracy.Among the issues discussed in the book are why people vote and what determines their decisions, what prompts citizen involvement in riots and demonstrations, whether spin doctors and designer politics pose a threat to democracy and the influence of mass media on our political behaviour.More than merely providing an overview, the book also presents original analyses of timely issues such as referendums and the consequences of postal voting.An essential book for students of politics, history and media studies, this study puts the debate about democracy into perspective and offers a solid grounding for future discussions.

IntroductionA note on the dataPART I: THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF CITIZEN POLITICS1. Understanding citizen politics: a methodological overview2. Participation and democracy from the Greeks to our timesPART II: EMPIRICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CITIZEN POLITICS3. An empirical approach to citizen politics4. Bottom-up politics: riots and extra-parliamentary politics5. Top-down initiated citizen politics: E-democracy, citizen juries and designer politics6. Citizens as voters7. Excursus: The power of the representativesPART III: CASE STUDIES IN CITIZEN DEMOCRACY8. Decisions to hold referendums in the UK9. Voting by the people: the referendums on the European constitution10. Absentee voting in a comparative perspective11. Quo vadis democracy?References