Conceptualizing Political Participation

Organised by Jan W. van Deth (MZES, University of Mannheim) and Marc Hooghe (KU Leuven)

What counts, and what does not count as political participation? Owing to the rapid expansion of political activities in the last decades this question has become increasingly difficult to answer. At least since the 1960s, scholars have provided different conceptualizations of political participation. The concept has been broadened not only to reflect changes in theory but also in response to social and technological developments. As a result, a wide and ever increasing variety of definitions and conceptualizations are currently employed. Yet neither the development of allembracing nominal definitions, nor deductive analyses of existing modes of participation seem to be helpful. In addition, the spread of expressive modes of participation and the use of the Internet make it hard to avoid purely subjective definitions. Should the endless expansion of the modes of political participation in modern democracies also result in endless conceptual expansions? The aim of the workshop is to discuss the development of political participation and its meaning for advanced democratic political systems. Starting point for these discussions is Jan van Deth’s recent proposal to develop a conceptual map to capture past, present and future forms of political participation. Marc Hooghe and Bengü Hosch Dayican already critically evaluated this proposal.

(See programme below)