The citizen’s engagement in the current political processes is the most important circumstance for democracy. A fulfilled citizenry is often examined as a sign of a healthful democracy. Nevertheless, in many countries around the world, a large part of the population is disengaged from politics. I am quite inclined to the opinion that people's engagement in the political dispensation depends on political ideology. I consent that if we observe democracy, we will notice that popular engagement is one of the most significant subjects for politics. Oppositely, It may not possess the same role in autocracies and other comparable alternatives.
According to the article ‘What Political Institutions Does Large-Scale Democracy Require?’[1], R. Dahl clarifies that one of the political institutions of modern representative democratic government is ‘Elected Officials’, which appears that ‘over the government's decisions about the policy should be constitutionally vested in officials elected by citizens’[2]. It examines that the inhabitants should be engaged in the country’s political life. Moreover, people should actively participate in the elections. I fully consider it is a respectable measuring instrument of quality democracy because, during this process, we can analyse what is the citizens’ vision for each election candidate, but sometimes it is so difficult when the governments represent as a hybrid regime of democracy and they often use the unproven methods to counterfeit the important elections. The authoritarian regimes use democracy as a tool to legitimize their non-democratic governance. In such circumstances democracy and people as its main power is used as a shield to justify totalitarian regimes.
It should be said that health care, poverty, and education are most motivators for political engagement to change the current situation and evolve better life standards. The practical experiences show us that one of the main reasons why people often start actively street-demonstrations and strikes is that they are on the extreme edge of poverty. Hence, from my personal view, I consider that the current country’s poverty level should be evaluated by the citizen's engagement in politics. Consequently, I agree with the evidence that popular engagement has an essential role and matter in the political life of the current state. There is a very interesting article by Richard Wike and Alexandra Castillo – ‘Many Around the World Are Disengaged From Politics’[3]. The authors surveyed to better understand public attitudes toward civic engagement, this research performed in 14 nations encompassing a wide range of political systems. The authors asked the citizens what types of issues could get them to take political action, people in 13 countries ranked poor health care as either their first or second choice among the issues tested.
Apart from that, the relation between politics and media is also the major circumstance, because each media resource should maintain their independent and associational autonomy. The media should achieve its various rights, including the effective operations of democratic political institutions. Furthermore, I consider that the citizens of each of the countries should have a right to seek out alternative and independent sources of information from other citizens, experts, newspapers, magazines, books, telecommunications, and others, hence the media resources of information actually exist that are not under the control of the government or any other single political group attempting to influence public political beliefs and attitudes, and these alternative sources should be effectively protected by law. I believe that the media help to the citizens to increase their formal political participation, the governments should constantly try to protect association autonomy of the media resources because over the last few years a new type of less formal political participation has evolved by the new (Internet and Social) media. To illustrate, there is a BBC article[4] where it is mentioned that ‘Online activism is becoming increasingly popular with many people using the internet to organize protests or change popular opinion about a range of issues’.
To conclude, I strongly agree with the statement that the popular engagement of the citizens is one of the most important topics for the democratic politics because the government should be officially elected by citizens, hence they have a legitimate right to develop civil society and engage them into the political life. Moreover, popular engagement has a considerable matter for the democratic government. It expresses the democratic relations between the voters and policy. Furthermore, the government should support tradition and new media as an alternative outlet for free expression in repressive environments. All of them are essential measuring instruments for a healthy democracy.
By Shalva Berianidze,
Erasmus Exchange Student, Master of International Relations at the University of Glasgow.
Note:
[1] Dahl R.; What Political Institutions Does Large-Scale Democracy Require?; POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY; Volume 120; Number 2; Summer 2005;
[2] Here; pp. 188;
[3] Many Around the World Are Disengaged From Politics; by Richard Wike and Alexandra Castillo; Pew Research Center; Global Attitudes & Trends; October 17, 2018; checked 17 September, 2020 -
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/10/17/international-political-engagement/ ;
[4] Participation; National 5; BBC; checked 17 September, 2020 -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zgft2nb/revision/1 ;