Political participation

Political Participation 

Political participation is an integral part of democracy as it enables citizens to express their political will by making his or her opinion on an issue heard. With political participation individuals can exert influence on issues. Conge (1988) defines political participation as individual or collective action that aims to either support or oppose the national or local state structure, authority and decisions in regard to public good allocation. The action can take different forms: it can be written or verbal, it can be violent or nonviolent and it can have different levels of intensity. Classical forms of political participation are voting, campaigning, petitioning but also protesting or running for office. 

Political movement 

Another way of traditional political engagement is the political movement. A political movement is a collective aggregation of people whose interest is to change government policy or society’s ideas with mainly political goals. While political parties aggregate a multitude of issues, political movements tend to focus on one major issue. Another difference is that political movements usually have no interest in attaining office in government, although many political leaders and parties have emerged from political movements. Therefore, political movements can also work on local, regional or international levels.

A political movement is not a mere crowd, since a crowd does not possess organisational mechanisms. It is a collective enterprise, an alliance of people who share dissatisfaction and a vision for a better order in some specific issue. 

Party Participation

As you already learned before, participating in a political party is a traditional way of political engagement and is part of your basic democratic right. Political parties are an essential part of a democratic political system. Parties can either be in governance or in opposition. Both roles are crucial to a healthy democracy as the opposition's job is to hold the government accountable for their policies and actions.

Joining a political party gives you unique opportunities to influence the direction of a party. You can choose and engage with political leaders or decide to take up more responsibility and run for office yourself.

Once you have decided which party most fits with your values, joining is in most cases not complicated. 

In previous modules you have already learned about ways of political participation (e.g.: joining a party, voting). These forms of political participation are not always placed within the concept of active citizenship. However they are an integral and essential part of the democratic system. 

The importance of this form of participation becomes even more prominent when looking at the declining levels of traditional participation. As previously stated, citizens’ participation in European elections declined since its first Parliament elections in 1979, even though we can point to some increase in 2019. 

However, statistics show us that political interest among EU citizens is still high (SOURE). Meanwhile, there seems to be distrust in the European Union (47%), national institutions (61%) as well as political parties (76%) which might reduce voting behaviour and traditional political participation.

The best way to fight distrust is by fostering more tangible participation in politics. Surveys show us that citizens believe that more concrete information on how the EU affects daily lives, clearer objectives of candidates and parties, more young people and women as candidates as well as more involvement in the decision making process within the EU would increase voters turnout in the next elections. 

This reflects not only on turnouts but also on the quality of the democracy and could counter the narrative of illiberal movements and eurosceptics. Therefore, traditional modes of politics are not only open to citizens’ participation, but in fact need it for a healthy democracy. Joining a political party and voting in each election gives you as a citizen a voice to discuss the party’s direction in local, national and European levels.

In the following unit you will have the opportunity to learn more about existing parties on the European level. We have chosen these parties as they are based on pro-democratic and pro-european values. However, they are differing in the policies they support, so that you can find a party that mirrors your political orientation. You can learn more about the party's policies in the next unit. 

The 4 Main Pro-EU and Pro-Democracy Political Parties in the European Parliament

S&D: The progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats or S&D Group is the second largest political party on the EU level. In the last years this  centre-left party has focussed on several key aspects in their political work. 

The S&D party is aiming to foster social rights, through tangible rights and a fairer economy based on human rights and the rule of law, being aware that they are not reality for everyone yet. Furthermore, their political work is advocating for public investment and better labour standards to combat unemployment and foster growth, opposing austerity policies of conservative parties. Moreover, they are promoting the European Green Deal which is supposed to reduce carbon emission to a minimum while keeping economic growth going. Additionally, they are focussed on organising refuge and migration by fighting causes of migration and fairer relocation of refugees within Europe. 

If you want to learn more about the S&D party, their policies and goals, check out: https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/ 

Greens/EFA: Recognizing their joint efforts the Greens and the European Free Alliance, together with independent MEPs are now the fourth largest group in the European Parliament. 

This party has at its core tackling the rapidly progressing climate crisis. Promoting to change the way we relate to the environment and balance production with an economy that respects the planet's limits, while serving the people. However, another core political goal is the fight for a society free from discrimination based on race, gender, age or religion and for human rights, tackeling growing inequality. Another part of their agenda is to recover trust in the EU institutions, pushing for more transparency in lobbying processes within the EU parliament and how public money is spent. Additionally, they aim to take down the “fortress Europe'' and promote the safeguarding of refugees rights and dignity. Last but not least, another focus lies in their goal for a digital revolution that respects human rights and privacy. 

If you want to to learn more about Green/EFA Party, their policies and goals, check out: https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/ 

Renew Europe: The Renew Europe party, which used to be the Alliance of liberals and democrats, promotes liberal democratic values with the goal of integrating and reuniting all European countries. They believe that the social and economic are connected and thus want to strengthen economic prosperity for all by fully using the potential of the global single market, supporting fair competition and supporting companies. Furthermore, they promote sustainability for European future generations, stressing that it can and must include economic prosperity. 

One core belief is that European states are more effective in tackling big scale issues like the climate crisis, economy, immigration, security and defence creating stronger ties with NATO, while not undermining regional potential within the EU. Another aim is promoting democracy and protecting vulnerable groups rejecting nationalist and populist tendencies by protecting the rule of law and distribution of power. Additionally, they want to control migration and strengthen EU external borders and boost law enforcement. 

If you want to learn more about Renew Europe, their policies and goal, check out: https://www.reneweuropegroup.eu/ 

EPP: The European People's Party (EPP) is the largest group in the European parliament. As a more conservative force, they are promoting a strong competitive and growth-oriented economy. Furthermore, they stand for security on external EU boarders, especially with a focus on preventing “illegal migration” and fighting terrorism. 

The EPP tries to achieve this by means of strengthening law enforcement and intelligence. Additionally, they focus on promoting a stronger role of security and defence of a united EU globally, together with NATO and aim to support democracies around the world. Moreover, there is a high importance on promoting the “European way of life”. Lastly, their policies also encompass climate policies that push for more ambition to make businesses green and reduce carbon emission. At the same time they warn against a green utopia and are against banning and restricting, rely more on incentivising businesses and climate friendly innovations. 

If you want to learn more about EEP, their policies and goal, check out: https://www.epp.eu/ 

We hope you enjoyed the course and got a better idea of how to get involved at the EU level. Don't forget that as an active citizen you can have an impact and make Europe the place you want it to be!