Political Values and Political Participation

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores, both theoretically and empirically, the relationship between political values and two main types of political participation, namely electoral (turnout in national or local elections) and non-electoral types ( such as signing a petition, attending a demonstration or contacting a government official). The chapter focuses on left-right, libertarian-authoritarian, traditional, postmaterialist, and democratic values, and their relationships with electoral and non-electoral forms of participation. Democratic values prove to have strong associations with both forms of participation, while postmaterialist values have a particularly strong association with non-electoral participation. Left-right, libertarian-authoritarian, and traditional values also have significant negative associations with non-electoral participation, right-wingers, authoritarians and traditionalists being less likely to engage politically outside elections. Left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values also have U-shaped relationships with electoral participation, people who hold more extreme positions on these values being the most likely to turnout and vote. At the same time, the political context also matters, with the level and strength of the relationships differing between democracies and autocracies. Levels of participation (both electoral and non-electoral) are much lower in autocracies, while the strengths of the relationships with values tend to be stronger in democracies.