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Activating the citizen : dilemmas of participation in Europe and Canada / edited by Joan DeBardeleben and Jon H. Pammett.
- Format:
- Book
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Political participation--Europe.
- Political participation.
- Europe.
- Elections--Europe.
- Elections.
- Political participation--Canada.
- Canada.
- Elections Canada.
- Physical Description:
- xvii, 306 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
- Summary:
- A real or potential' democratic deficit' is haunting established democracies. Declining levels of citizen participation affect the ballot box, political party membership, and other forms of civic activism. So disturbing are these trends that governments themselves have undertaken assertive mobilization campaigns and institutional reforms to try to address them. Activating the Citizen not only examines the reasons underlying citizen withdrawal, but also explores and assesses innovative approaches on both sides of the Atlantic to try to counter these phenomena. Bringing together research by Canadian and European scholars, this volume considers proactive approaches such as changing political party leadership selection practices, new forms of civic education to engage youth, direct citizen participation through Citizens' Assemblies and referendums, and the construction of issues so as to elicit responses in the name of' good citizenship'. All of these political measures are designed to 'activate the citizen'.
- Contents:
- Part I Defining the Participation Gap 15
- 1 Citizen Participation and Democratic Deficits: Considerations from the Perspective of Democratic Theory / Mark E. Warren 17
- 2 The Decline of Political Participation: An Empirical Overview of Voter Turnout and Party Membership / Alan Siaroff 41
- Part II Voter Turnout: Understanding the Decline 61
- 3 Turnout in Electoral Democracies Revisited / Andr ̌Blais, Agnieszka Dobrzynska 63
- 4 Where Turnout Holds Firm: The Scandinavian Exceptions / Jr̜gen Elklit, Lise Togeby 83
- 5 New Members, Old Issues: The Problem of Voter Turnout in European Parliament Elections / Joan DeBardeleben, Lawrence LeDuc 106
- Part III Parties as Vehicles of Participation 129
- 6 Party Membership and Activism in Comparative Perspective / Paul Whiteley 131
- 7 Models of Party Organization and Europarties / Luciano Bardi, Enrico Calossi 151
- 8 Grassroots Participation and Party Leadership Selection: Examining the British and Canadian Cases / William Cross, John Crysler 173
- Part IV Beyond Elections and Parties: Innovations in Activating Citizens 195
- 9 Participation and the Good Citizen / Jon H. Pammett 197
- 10 Institutionalizing Participation through Citizens' Assemblies / Jonathan Rose 214
- 11 Citizen Involvement in Constitutional Politics: European and Canadian Experiences / Lawrence LeDuc 233
- 12 Youth Engagement, Civic Education, and New Vehicles of Political Participation / Eileen Saunders 257.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780230575943
- 0230575943
- OCLC:
- 290433076
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