Democratic Participation
Democratic participation requires answers to a series of questions: Who is eligible to participate? Age, sex, race, property ownership, a criminal record, literacy, and citizenship have all been used to separate voters from nonvoters. What actions can voters vote on? What actions are left to others to decide (e.g. by their representatives, bureaucrats, appointed officials)? What is beyond the reach of citizen influence? What rules and punishments exist to manage the constituency's representatives (e.g. moral codes, right to recall, impeachment, ability to sue for misconduct)? What rules exist to change the rules of representation (e.g. from an electoral college to direct election by the majority in the American presidency)?
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What knowledge (information, analysis) must be provided to the voter? Is the knowledge provided by public media and political advocacy groups slanderous or deceitful? Who are the monitor and enforcer in times of dispute or violation of democratic rules? Do they have the independence and resources to monitor and enforce fairly? Every democracy creates rights and responsibilities in order to encourage participation and to avoid a tyranny of the majority that might set rules that make voting a sham. Sometimes minorities cannot change the rules without civil disobedience or direct action against the government.
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Featured Resources
E-participation and the Future of Democracy
Featured Organizations
 Civil Society International assists independent organizations working for democracy and civil society in countries closed, or inhospitable, to these principles.
 Democracy Matters informs and engages college students and communities in efforts to strengthen our democracy. With campus-based chapters throughout the country, we focus on the issue of private money in politics and other pro-democracy reforms.
 America Speaks engages citizens in the public decisions that impact their lives. Since the organization's founding in 1995, AmericaSpeaks methodologies have engaged over 65,000 people in over 50 large-scale forums in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Tags/Keywords
voting, representation, civic participation, right to vote, access to voting, fair election, democracy, democratic process, civic engagement, civil society, enabling participation, freedom from voting intimidation, participatory democracy, democratization, autonomy, democratic deficit, direct democracy, representative democracy
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Quote
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"Democratization serves the cause of peace because it offers the possibility of justice and of progressive change without force"
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations
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AmericaSpeaks: Engaging Citizens in Governance
