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Political participation in Australia: contingency in the behaviour and attitudes of citizens

Political participation in Australia: contingency in the behaviour and attitudes of citizens
Political participation in Australia: contingency in the behaviour and attitudes of citizens
This article explores the idea that a citizen's relationship with their polity is contingent on and liable to change under certain conditions. The assessment of the prospects for political reform requires an understanding of the contingent nature of political engagement. Drawing from a survey of a representative sample of Australians three insights emerge. First, although many Australian citizens are not directly engaged in political actions beyond voting most do present a ‘standby’ role that suggests potential to engage. Second, willingness to shift patterns of engagement may depend on general orientations towards the polity and we find extensive evidence of negative understanding of the political system as well as more positive endorsement of representative political practices. Our third finding is that citizens might be prepared to change their relationship with the polity depending on the kind of politics that is offered; hence providing a creative space for political reform.
political participation, representative democracy, stelth democracy, sunshine democracy
1036-1146
1-16
Evans, Mark
5937f8f0-b918-44bc-a811-379c60f79145
Stoker, Gerry
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9
Evans, Mark
5937f8f0-b918-44bc-a811-379c60f79145
Stoker, Gerry
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9

Evans, Mark and Stoker, Gerry (2016) Political participation in Australia: contingency in the behaviour and attitudes of citizens. Australian Journal of Political Science, 1-16. (doi:10.1080/10361146.2015.1123672).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article explores the idea that a citizen's relationship with their polity is contingent on and liable to change under certain conditions. The assessment of the prospects for political reform requires an understanding of the contingent nature of political engagement. Drawing from a survey of a representative sample of Australians three insights emerge. First, although many Australian citizens are not directly engaged in political actions beyond voting most do present a ‘standby’ role that suggests potential to engage. Second, willingness to shift patterns of engagement may depend on general orientations towards the polity and we find extensive evidence of negative understanding of the political system as well as more positive endorsement of representative political practices. Our third finding is that citizens might be prepared to change their relationship with the polity depending on the kind of politics that is offered; hence providing a creative space for political reform.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 19 November 2015
Published date: 7 February 2016
Keywords: political participation, representative democracy, stelth democracy, sunshine democracy
Organisations: Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 390466
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/390466
ISSN: 1036-1146
PURE UUID: a80f0396-d5ce-4d2d-89ca-ea52bdb03819
ORCID for Gerry Stoker: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8172-3395

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Date deposited: 04 Apr 2016 08:48
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:26

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Contributors

Author: Mark Evans
Author: Gerry Stoker ORCID iD

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