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CHAPTER SEVEN: Political Institutions: Participation and Representation

Study

Virtually all regimes allow some degree of participation and representation, if only to bolster legitimacy, or at least the appearance of it. Democratic regimes all claim to value and promote widespread participation and representation, but they differ significantly in regard to the "best" ways to promote citizen involvement and representation of interests. This chapter discusses institutions for participation and representation in democracies.

A country's formal political institutions-its electoral systems, political parties, and party systems-reveal much about how that country defines and how much it values participation and representation. Democratic party systems differ in the number of parties and in how those parties are organized and rule. Part of this difference arises out of the electoral system through which votes are aggregated.

A great deal of participation and interest representation also occur in civil society. Political scientists investigate the internal organization of interest groups, the resources at the disposal of these groups, their overall institutional strength, and their relationships to the governments they try to influence. When citizens perceive formal institutions as providing inadequate representation or opportunities for political participation, they may choose to participate in groups or activities outside of them, often as part of social movements. Patron-client linkages constitute another very common form of informal participation.