Activating the Citizen: Dilemmas of Participation in Europe and Canada

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of Tables......Page 8
List of Figures......Page 10
List of Appendices......Page 11
List of Abbreviations......Page 12
Notes on the Contributors......Page 13
Acknowledgments......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
Part I: Defining the Participation Gap......Page 34
1 Citizen Participation and Democratic Deficits: Considerations from the Perspective of Democratic Theory......Page 36
2 The Decline of Political Participation: An Empirical Overview of Voter Turnout and Party Membership......Page 60
Part II: Voter Turnout: Understanding the Decline......Page 80
3 Turnout in Electoral Democracies Revisited......Page 82
4 Where Turnout Holds Firm: The Scandinavian Exceptions......Page 102
5 New Members, Old Issues: The Problem of Voter Turnout in European Parliament Elections......Page 125
Part III: Parties as Vehicles of Participation......Page 148
6 Party Membership and Activism in Comparative Perspective......Page 150
7 Models of Party Organization and Europarties......Page 170
8 Grassroots Participation and Party Leadership Selection: Examining the British and Canadian Cases......Page 192
Part IV: Beyond Elections and Parties: Innovations in Activating Citizens......Page 214
9 Participation and the Good Citizen......Page 216
10 Institutionalizing Participation through Citizens’ Assemblies......Page 233
11 Citizen Involvement in Constitutional Politics: European and Canadian Experiences......Page 252
12 Youth Engagement, Civic Education, and New Vehicles of Political Participation......Page 276
Bibliography......Page 295
C......Page 316
D......Page 317
E......Page 318
F......Page 319
L......Page 320
N......Page 321
R......Page 322
T......Page 323
V......Page 324
Y......Page 325