ECPR Press Political Participation in France and Germany

Where do France and Germany sit in the world of participatory political communities? This book sets out an impressive historical, theoretical and institutional framework for a comprehensive, comparative and empirical analysis of the forms, patterns, trends and determinants of citizen participation in France and Germany. This study starts with an outline of the participatory traditions of the two respective countries. Thereafter, the focus turns to the theoretical foundations of empirical research regarding the role of political participation in modern democracies, and gives an overview as to how the perception of political participation has changed over the years. Furthermore, the forms of conventional participation, particularly with regard to electoral participation, and unconventional participation like protest and other new forms of citizen involvement, are analysed in detail. Following the new approaches in participation research, social participation is not only supposed to correlate with political participation, but is a specific form of civic engagement in itself. Therefore, this aspect is included in the analysis. The volume not only discusses national trends and patterns, but also local ones where elementary differences can be noticed, depending, amongst others, on the level of centralisation of the state structure. About the Author Oscar W. Gabriel is a full professor of political science at the University of Stuttgart (Germany), Associate Researcher and former Visting Professor at the Institut of Political Science Bordeaux (France). He was Convenor of the Working Group on Elections and Political Attitudes, GPSA, Convenor of the Section on Political Sociology. Important Actual Research Activities: Participant in the Research Group on Political Representation in France and Germany (ANR/DFG), Political Trust and Attitudes towards Welfare State Reforms in Germany, Participant in the German NCT for the European Social Survey. His main research areas are political sociology and political psychology, particularly political attitudes and political culture, social and political participation, electoral behaviour. Silke I. Keil is an assistant professor of Political Science and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart (Germany). She was general manager of the German Project of the European Social Survey (2006-2010). Her main research areas are political sociology, particularly political attitudes, participation, social capital and electoral behaviour. Eric Kerrouche is CNRS (National Centre of Scientific Research) Senior Research Fellow at SPIRIT, the research centre of Bordeaux Institute of Political Science. He is a specialist of Local Government and Parliaments in France and Europe.