Participation in context: Contextual and individual determinants of political participation in Europe and the Netherlands

Cover, Participation in context, Rik Linssen
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Dissertation on how differences in conventional and unconventional political participation in Europe, and more specifically in the Netherlands, can be explained by the interplay of individual and contextual determinants.
By studying similar forms of political participation (conventional and unconventional) across different contexts, longitudinally in Europe, cross-nationally in Europe, longitudinally in the Netherlands during times of economic crisis, and at the micro-context level in the Netherlands, we show each time that there is a cumulative pattern in participating in political activities. People who participate in more difficult, more time-consuming, political actions also participate in easier, less time-consuming political actions. Moreover, this pattern is similar within countries over time in Europe and, with few exceptions, similar between countries in Europe. This argues for a recognition of this cumulative pattern in follow-up research rather than studying isolated political activities such as participating in demonstrations or joining political parties.

The longitudinal comparisons in Europe and the Netherlands show that there is little change over time in the level of political participation. Furthermore, we show that individual characteristics have a greater effect on political participation than contextual characteristics. Differences in political participation over time in Europe are very small. However, cross-country differences in the level of political participation are substantial. Especially among the highly educated, greater prosperity of a country stimulates unconventional political participation. The influence of education level on political participation decreases in open political systems. Voting is more frequent in open political systems, in more affluent countries, as well as in countries with more extensive social welfare systems, but there is no direct relationship between these contextual determinants and other forms of conventional political participation. Voting in national elections is the most obvious, the most popular, ritualistic, and possibly the simplest form of political action. Moreover, other forms of conventional action are relatively rare, both in Europe (with the exception of Switzerland and Austria) and in the Netherlands. We find no empirical support for claims that ethnic diversity has negative consequences for on political participation at different contextual levels.

We show in this dissertation that, despite concerns about a decline in citizen political engagement, political participation is not declining, neither in European countries nor in the Netherlands. If we consider political participation to be a measure of citizen involvement in society (social cohesion), the results of this study provide no support for a perceived fragmentation of it.

Linssen, R. (2016). Participation in context: Contextual and individual determinants of political participation in Europe and the Netherlands. Dissertation, Maastricht University, doi:10.26481/dis.20160615rl.

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