Do people want more participation?Tensions and conflicts in governance in times of scepticism
- Ernesto Ganuza 1
- Patricia García-Espín 1
- Stefano De Marco 2
-
1
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
info
-
2
Universidad de Salamanca
info
ISSN: 0048-7694
Year of publication: 2017
Issue: 176
Pages: 253-279
Type: Article
More publications in: Revista de estudios políticos
Abstract
When ordinary people are asked how they feel about politics, negative terms enter into the conversation. In this work we analyse how people build their relationship with politics, to explore to what extent political representation is challenged by either participatory trends or by expert-based governance in citizens’ mind. To do this, we use focus groups in Spain, where popular distrust of political institutions rose dramatically in the period 1980-2012. We analyse the meanings associated with expert-based, representative, and participatory governance models. In this way, the tensions and contradictions in political preferences for one type of institutional design or another are unveiled.
Funding information
Esta investigación se ha realizado en el marco del proyecto de investigación «Stealth democracy: Between participation and professionalization», financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CSO2012-38942)Funders
-
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
Spain
- CSO2012-38942
Bibliographic References
- Baiocchi, G. and Ganuza, E. (2016). Popular democracy: The paradox of participation. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Bengtsson, A. and M. Mattila (2009). Direct democracy and its critics: Support for direct democracy and stealth democracy in Finland”. West European Politics, 32 (5), 1031-1048. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402380903065256
- Bengtsson, A. and Christensen, H. S. (2014). Ideals and Actions: Do citizens’ patterns of political participation correspond to their conception of democracy? Government and Opposition, 51 (2), 234-260. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2014.29
- Bonet, E., Martin, I. and Montero, J. R. (2006). Las actitudes políticas de los españoles. In J. Font, J. R. Montero and M. Torcal (eds.). Ciudadanos, asociaciones y participación en España (pp. 105-132). Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
- Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: SAGE.
- Bryman, A. (2001). Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. (2001). Participation of citizens in local public life. Recommendation 2001-19.
- Crozier, M., Huntington, S. P. and Watanuki, J. (1975). The crisis of democracy. New York: New York University Press.
- Dalton, R. J. (2004). Democratic challenges, democratic choices: The erosion of political support in advanced industrial democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268436.001.0001
- Easton, D. (1965). A systems analysis of political life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Font, J., Navarro, C., Wojcieszak, M. and Alarcón, P. (2012). ¿“Democracia sigilosa” en España?: preferencias de la ciudadanía española sobre las formas de decisión política y sus factores explicativos. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
- Font, J. and Navarro, C. (2013). Personal experience and the evaluation of participatory instruments in Spanish cities. Public Administration, 91 (3), 616-631. Available in: ttps://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2012.02106.x
- Font, J., Della Porta, D. and Sintomer, Y. (eds.) (2014). Participatory democracy in Southern Europe: Causes, characteristics and consequences. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.
- Font, J., Wojcieszak, M. and Navarro, C. (2015). “Participation, representation and expertise: Citizen preferences for political decision-making processes”. Political Studies, 63, 153-172.
- Gamson, W. and Sifry, M. (2013). “The Occupy Movement”. The Sociological Quarterly, 54 (1), 159-230. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1111/tsq.12026
- García-Espín, P., Ganuza, E. and de Marco, S. (2017). ¿Asambleas, referéndum o consultas? Representaciones sociales de la participación ciudadana”. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (forthcoming in 2017). Available in: https://doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.157.45.
- Hibbing, J. R. and Theiss-Morse, E. (2002). Stealth democracy: Americans’ beliefs about how Government should work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511613722
- Hydén, L. C. and Bülow, P. H. (2003). Who’s talking: drawing conclusions from focus groupssome methodological considerations. International Journal Social Research Methodology, 6 (4), 305-321. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1080/13645570210124865
- Katz, R. S. and Mair, P. (1995). Changing models of party organization and party democracy: The emergence of the cartel party. Party Politics 1 (1), 5-28. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068895001001001
- Kitzinger, J. (1995). Qualitative research. Introducing focus groups. BMJ: British medical journal, 311 (7000), 299-302.
- Laclau, E. (2007). On Populist Reason. London: Verso.
- Lasch, C. (1995). The revolt of the elites. New York: Norton Company.
- McHugh, D. (2006). Wanting to be heard but not wanting to act? Addressing political disengagement”. Parliamentary Affairs, 59 (3), 546-552. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsl027
- Morgan, D. L. (1996). Focus Group. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 129-152. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.22.1.129
- Mota, F. (2006). ¿Hacia la democracia participativa en España? Coincidencias y discrepancias entre ciudadanos y representantes políticos. En A. Martínez (ed.). Representación y calidad de la democracia en España. Madrid: Tecnos.
- Munday, J. (2006). Identity in focus: The use of focus groups to study the construction of collective identity”. Sociology, 40 (1): 89-105. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038506058436
- Neblo, M. A., Esterling, K., Kennedy, R., Lazer, D. and Sokhey, A. (2010). Who wants to deliberate and why? American Political Science Review, 104 (3), 566-583. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055410000298
- Norris, P. (1999). Critical citizens: Global support for democratic government: Global support for democratic government. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1093/0198295685.001.0001
- Norris, P. (2009). Public disaffection and electoral reform: Pressure from below? Paper prepared for ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, Lisbon, 14-19 April 2009.
- Norris, P., Walgrave, S. and Van Aelst, P. (2006). Does protest signify disaffection? Demonstrators in a postindustrial democracy. In M. Torcal and J. R. Montero (eds.). Political dissatisfaction in contemporary democracies (pp. 279-307). London and New York: Routledge.
- Pharr, S. and Putnam, R. (2000). Disaffected democracies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Sirianni, C. and Friedland, L. (2001). Civic innovation in America: Community empowerment, public policy, and the movement for civic renewal. Oakland: University of California Press.
- Smithson, J. (2000). Using and analyzing focus groups: limitations and possibilities. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 3 (2), 103-11. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1080/136455700405172
- Stoker, G. (2006). Why politics matters: Making democracy work. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Tejerina, B., Perugorría, I., Benski, T. and Langman, L. (2013). From indignation to occupation: A new wave of global mobilization. Current Sociology, 61, 377-392. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392113479738
- Torcal, M. (2014). The decline of political trust in Spain and Portugal: Economic performance or political responsiveness? American Behavioral Scientist, 58: 1542-1567. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764214534662
- Torcal, M. and Montero, J. R. (eds.) (2006). Political disaffection in contemporary democracies: Social capital, institutions, and politics. London: Routledge.
- Webb, P. (2013). Who is willing to participate? Dissatisfied democrats, stealth democrats and populists in the United Kingdom. European Journal of Political Research, 52, 747–772. Available in: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12021