Deliverable 3.2 – Report on changing patterns of citizens' political participation

This report examines how much patterns of political participation have changed in the last two decades in Europe and whether any such changes can reasonably be linked to the current crisis of representative democracy facing established European democracies. Indeed, it is not uncommon to connect participation in contentious forms of political action with political discontent. This link is, nevertheless, not as straightforward as it may seem at first as non-electoral political participation can be the last resource of the politically alienated but it can also be an additional tool in the political arsenal of those who are the most politically resourceful and confident of making an impact. Through a systematic comparative analysis of trends and patterns of non-electoral participation in Europe using data from the European Social Survey for the last two decades, this report shows that: (1) Overall trends in political participation vary considerably depending on the mode of political action considered, (2) cross-national variation in the levels, patterns and trends of non-electoral participation is very substantial, (3) The association between trust in national and EU political actors and institutions and participation in non-electoral forms of political action is, on average, nil for most countries and forms of political participation, particularly for Nordic and Central and Eastern European countries. Nevertheless, we observe some meaningful patterns when the correlations are not nil. In sum, our in-depth analysis of patterns and trends of non-electoral political participation across Europe suggests that there has been no massive change in the last two decades and that we are not witnessing a generalized surge in non-electoral political action that is manifesting a clear syndrome of political discontent. Hence, more nuanced analyses are required to better understand which instances of political mobilization are expressing political disaffection and mistrust of political actors and institutions and by which social and political groups in European democracies.