Political Participation

• Political Participation is one of the most imp. And indispensable

elements of a democratic polity
• Without Pol . Participation, govts. Will become autocratic and the
rights and liberties of an individual within the state cannot be
protected
• It is also through political participation that people express their will
and the governmental functions.
• Society in which substantial part of the population is denied any
participation whatsoever is likely to be highly explosive.
• It is because of this reason that even in modern non democratic political
systems the idea of political participation seems to be well nurtured.
• Post 20 th century modern pol.sci. behavioral approach
• Direct Democracy , Indirect Democracy or Representative Democracy.
• Public opinion in modern times.
• Political participation - Election, Demonstration, movement
• Non political - Family, religion church, educational institutions
• When one looks at the history of the world it is evident that violent
revolutions took place when political participation is limited.
• American revolution French revolution Russian revolutions are some
of the glaring examples
• Nowadays political participation is extended to all the citizens in most
of the countries.
• However some countries allowed political participation in a limited
way.
• Countries following a communist ideology belong to this category
because the people there do not have the freedom to political
associations of their choice.
• Political participation enables the citizens to be an efficient partner in
the running of the government
• It helps them to understand the working of the government and
enables them to see whatever the government is working in a
transparent manner or not
• It is through this channel that the citizens can judge the performance
of every government that rule the nation.
• A country that does not permit such kind of activity is very close to
dictatorship or is totalitarian.
• ACC. To J J Rousseau
• Participation increased the value of his freedom to the individual by
enabling is to be his own master.
• Secondly the participatory process insurance that although no man, or
group, is master of another, all are equally dependent on each other and
equally subject to the law that is made possible through participation
• Thirdly, good increases the filling among individuals citizens that day
belong their community
• Thus political participation is a very necessary element of democratic or
popular system of government.
Meaning

•Political participation is the involvement

of groups and individuals at various
levels in the political system.
Involvement expresses itself in various
kinds of overt or manifest political
activities.
Definition
• ACC. To H. MC closky,
• participation is the principal means by which consent is granted or
withdrawn in a democracy and rulers are made accountable to the
ruled.
• ACC to Richard Johnson,
• political participation may be described as any voluntary act to
influence elections or public policy. It may mean running for office , it
may be simple as casting a ballot or it may means intended to
influence the broad outlines of Policy, or it may be very specific
seeking benefits for an individual
• Nie and Verba’s
• Those legal activities by private citizens which are more or
less directly aimed at influencing the selection of
government personnel and or the actions they take
• Huntington and Nelson's definition
• refers to political participation simply as activity by private
citizens designed to influence governmental decision making
• D. R. Mathew and J W Protho
• defined political participation as all behavior through
which people directly express their political opinions.
• Participation for J J Rousseau again is
• participation in the making of decisions and second
that it is as in theories of representative government,
a way of protecting private interest and ensuring good
government.
• Political participation studies human behavior in political
system and recognizes that the political system and the
political culture have a significant impact on individual
political behavior.

• मॅक्लोस्की शासकांच्या निवड प्रक्रियेत आणि

प्रत्यक्ष अप्रत्यक्षरीत्या सार्वजनिक धोरण
प्रक्रियेत असलेला लोकांचा ऐच्छिक सहभाग
म्हणजे राजकीय सहभाग
Levels of political participation
• Political participation and encompasses the many activities used by
citizens to influence the selection of political leaders are the policies
they pursue.
• Political scientists also classify different forms of political participation
on the basis of different activities performed by the individuals.
• Lester Milbrath in his book, ‘political participation’ Classify three
forms of political participation on the basis of three categories of
activities
• These are "Gladiators activities" , "transitional activities", ,"spectactor
activities"
"Gladiators activities“ (Very Active
Level)
• 1 by the Gladiators he means a small number of
people who are party activists in the sense that
they highly engage themselves in a series of
direct party activities.
• These include the function of holding party
offices, attending party meetings, racing party
funds etc.
Occasionally Active
• 2 again, some people attend party meetings as because they
are supporters of sympathizers of the party.
• They are impartial but attentive listeners, and they also
contribute to the party funds.
• At the same time this group of people come in contact with
the party personal.
• This type of activities are known as transitional activities
Inactive Level i.e; Spectator

•3 spectator activities include the

function of voting discussing
politics, convincing another person
to cast the vote in a particular way
and wearing a sticker etc.
Hierarchy of political participation or
involvement
• 1 Gladiatorial Activities
• A Holding public and party office सार्वजनिक पद किंवा
पक्षातील पद धारण करणे
• B Being a candidate for the office पदप्राप्तीसाठी उमेदवारी
करणे
• C soliciting political funds राजकीय निधीसाठी विनवणी करणे
• D Attending a CAUCUS or a strategy meeting
• E Becoming an active member in a political party
• F contributing time in a political campaign राजकीय प्रचार
मोहिमेत वेळ खर्च करणे
• Transitional activities
• G Attending a political meeting or a rally
• H Making a monetary contribution to a party or a
candidate राजकीय पक्षास किंवा उमेदवार
आर्थिक मदत करणे,
• I. Contacting a political official or political leader
• Spectator Activities
• J. Wearing a button or putting sticker on the car
• K. Attempting to talk to another two voting
• L. Initiating a political discussion
• M. Voting
• N. Exposing oneself to political stimuli राजकीय
स्वरूपाचे चेतकाने प्रभावित होणे
• This type of he has been developed on the basis of the
studies made on the environment of the American citizens in
politics.
• Hence it is justified to evaluate it in the lights of the political
activities of the citizens of the states.
• At the outset, it can be said that the typology is divided
hierarchically in three stages which reveals the pattern that
participation increases as it goes to lower hierarchy.
• To be more precise, in American context, about 60% people
are involved in spectator activities,
• about 7 to 9% people are involved in transitional activities
and about
• 1 to 3% in gladiatorial activities.
• Milbrath suggest that his ordering involves a kind of internal
logical natural progression of becoming involved in political
activities and that persons involved at one level are also
likely to involve them sales at lower level
• Central to this logic is the idea that ascending the hierarchy
involves increasing cost in terms of time, energy, and
resources and at each level. Fewer people are able or
prepared to make the necessary investments
• This leads us to assume that participation is a consequence
of the social and psychological circumstances associated with
involvement.
• Political activity could be considered normal or routine for
everyday existence
• Participation listed above is only possible when the
basic psychological and psychological needs of the
persons such as food ,sex, sleep ,safety, affection had
been met.
• This a democratic process is become normal or even
possible only in societies where more basic needs are
routinely satisfied.
Rush and Althoff have also drawn a
hierarchy in "An Introduction to
Political Sociology"
• This hierarchy includes most of the forms of the
political participation.
• Their model, in fact, does not differ much from the
one drawn by Milbrath , set minor changes and re
adjustments here and there.
• The issues referred in the hierarchy can be seen as
follows .
A Hierarchy of political participation
• 1 Holding political or Administrative office राजकीय किंवा प्रशासकीय पद धारण करणे
महासचिव किंवा अध्यक्ष
• २ seeking political or administrative office राजकीय किंवा प्रशासकीय पद प्राप्तीचा
प्रयत्न करणे
• ३ active membership aur a political organisation क्रियाशील सभासद
• 4 Active membership of a quasi political organisation निम राजकीय संघटनेचे सभासद
स्वीकारणे
• 5 passive membership of a political organisation नुसते राजकीय सभासद स्वीकारणे
• 6 participation in public meetings ,demonstrations etc
• 7 participation in informal political discussion
• 8 general interest in politics राजकारणात सर्वसाधारण स्वारस्य दाखवणे
• 9 voting
• 10 Total Apathy संपूर्ण उदासीनता
• Participation at the top of the hierarchy is enjoyed only by
those who hold various types of offices within the political
system.
• The offices may include the political as well as the
administrative positions located at various levels in the
political system of a country.
• Persons participating at such level can be distinguished from
other political participants in that they are concerned with
the exercise of formal political power
• Who hold or seeks office a number of citizens become
members of various types of political ,semi political or quasi
political bodies operating in a democratic system.
• This bodies include all types of political parties ,interest
groups ,trade unions and various forms of pressure groups
undertaken multi furious activities articulating and
aggregating diverse interest in a social milieu
• This body is can be termed as agents of political mobilization.
• Apathy maybe due to their poverty ,ignorance ,illiteracy indifferences
and deliberate withdrawals and Alienation.
• Apart from this participation in military states that is the government
participating as an instrument of coercion.
Levels of political participation
• People participate in the political process of their country, but the
level of participation where is from place to place, time to time and
from one section of the people to another.
• 1 Very Active Level
• In this we may refer to the leaders holding high positions in the
legislative and administrative Spheres, they are concerned with the
exercise of formal political power.
• Most of the leaders belonging to this category have their place in the
political parties that play their role in political mobilization or in
organizations through which members of the society may participate
in certain type of political activities involving the defense or
promotion of particular ideas, positions, situations, persons or groups
through the political system.
• 2 Occasionally Active
• Here we may refer to a case where people take part in the political
process of their country occasionally as well as is an informal manner.
• It is a possible that people take interest in issues as per their social
and economic interests.
• For example the agriculturists would jump into the fray of politics
when the government takes a decision going against their interest,
others would not.
• It is also true that voting is the commonest form
of political participation, but a fairly large section
of the people refrains fro voting either because
of electoral fatigue थकवा likes Switzerland or
because of some other reason like terror, apathy,
non existence of a burning public issues etc. For
example J and k naxalite areas
• 3 Inactive Level
• It reveals the elements of apathy, alienation, anomie, violence.
• All these of the state of non involvement or very limited
involvement in the political process of the country.
• It is likely that the people in very large number do not hot
because of their impressions about futility of such an exercise or
it may be that they find more satisfaction in keeping themselves
away from the political process than being an active participation
in it.
• As participation of the people very from changing levels of
participation, the participation also where is from system to
system
• According to Rush and Althoff ,
• the act of VOTING is the last form of political participation.
Political Recruitment
• It is a corollary to the concept of political participation in its own way.
• It refers to institutional process by which political jobs beyond
citizenship level are filled.
• Political careers are patterns of incumbency( पदभार )in these
political offices and roles.
• It is the process by which individuals secure or are enlisted in the
roles of the office holders in a formal or informal manner.
• That is the individuals may be recruited openly by means of
institutional machinery of selection of our election or no recourse to
such machinery
Methods of Recruitment
• There are different methods as available in different political system of
the world.
• 1 Entitlement by Hereditary Claim.
• It applies to the case of a Monarchical system where the king or queen
is chosen according to the principal of hereditary.
• When a monarch dies or abdicates(त्याग करणे), the office goes to his
child or the sum of the member of the royal household according to the
law of primogeniture(एकाच आई-वडिलांचे पहिले अपत्य असणे).
• For example we may refer to the monarchy systems of
Britain ,Nepal ,Japan ,Saudi Arabia etc.
• 2 Election
• It is the most widely appreciated system prevailing in Democratic countries of
the world.
• The head of the street that is President and the head of the government are
elected by the people
• Methods of election may be direct or indirect
• For example the president of the USA and the France are elected by the
people but the seven President of Switzerland are elected by the Federal
Assembly in a joint session for a term of 4 years.
• In communist countries even judicial offices are filled by the election process.
• 3 Nomination
• Some offices of t
• For example
• 1 the USA President appoints his ministers and federal judges whose
names are ratified by the Senate. he state may be filled by means of
nominations
• 2. The Governor General of Canada nominate members for the upper
chamber of the Parliament that is Senate
• 3 the President of India make 12 nominations in the Rajya
sabha.
• The President of India may nominate to members of the
Anglo Indian community in Lok Sabha and The governor of a
state may nominate one member of this community in the
legislative Assembly
• 4 Selection
• It apply to generally to administrative post where public servants are
recruited on the grounds of their merit.
• It may be done through the results of a competitive exam.
• In order to avoid the chances of 'Spoils' it is also necessary that this
work of recruiting public service should be interested to a civil service
commission having men of great integrity and efficiency.
• It is also necessary that the persons recruited by such
autonomous bodies should be given promotions from
time to time on the basis of seniority as well as
efficiency.
• The public servants should act faithfully and honestly
without involving themselves into political
Controversies.
• 5 Unconstitutional Means
• In some exceptional situations, political offices maybe grabbed by
means of force or fraud, by purchase, or by mobilization.
• For example president Ayub Khan of Pakistan captured power in a
military coup in 1958.
• In 1922 Mussolini could grab power in Italy by means of mobilization
of his followers in Grand March to Rome in the uniform of black
shirts.
Political Recruitment and Elite
Theorists
• Elite theorists like Mosca and Pareto le stress on the point that
whatever may be the system of recruitment to political offices, it is
the members of the elite who get the lion's share (grate number).
• All appointments and nominations to fill various offices are
recommended and accomplished by powerful leads and their
declaration by the head of the state is just a matter of formality.
• To Marx and his followers it appears that all offices are
shared by men belonging to the 'DOMINANT CLASS, of
the society
• Political parties ,pressure groups ,various interest
groups in society and media are the main agencies of
a political recruitment