Democratic Participation

Nov 27, 2011 Editorial

In the last elections a large percentage of voters did not exercise their franchise. If this trend continues, decisions at the highest level could be made by the few for the many. This poses a problem for democracy.
Political theorists argue that democratic participation involves two mutually recursive components: the political structure or culture that can enable or constrain participation and the individual who possesses the ability and responsibility to ensure their political voice is included in political arenas. While these two dimensions of public participation are theoretically impossible to speak of as separate phenomena, any project that attempts to encourage public political participation should consider both aspects in its design and implementation.
All researchers agree that in Guyana, voting has been dominated by ethnic interests, up to the last elections. It would be interesting to discover whether the non-voters were evenly distributed between the several groups or whether they were concentrated in one group.
In the vigorous debate in our letters’ pages, there have been several suggestions that “non-voting” is more pronounced in one particular group.
Empirical evidence suggests that representative democracy often leads to decisions that reflect middle class, rather than lower class interests, a finding that is often attributed to the fact that there is greater middle class political participation than lower class participation. This is probably true even in our ethnically divided society. The elected politicians then work to keep the middle class support.
Research in the field of social psychology has found a strong positive correlation between such status and perceived efficacy to contribute to the betterment of societal conditions. One researcher asserts that many poor people hold the belief that the world is essentially “just” in order to avoid the cognitive dissonance that would result if they were to realize otherwise, in spite of the fact that, for them, there is no direct relationship between effort and economic success.
Such a process can distort the interests of the poor and create what Marx and others have referred to as “false consciousness”. Such a consciousness can have the effect of normalizing inequities and reducing the possibility that conflicts of interests will arise from the awareness of unequal or unfair distribution of resources, opportunities, representation, and participation in political decisions. The poor should come out and vote according to their interests.
Others attribute lack of participation in political life to apathetic citizenry. One researcher suggests that political apathy is produced in everyday life over the course of conversations, interactions, and in the “backstage” of life. Her findings suggest that a social norm exists that impedes political discourse in ways that censor such discussion in non-political and political spaces.
Perhaps such norms get internalised in a manner that de-legitimises political opinions to such a degree that individuals censor themselves even in situations where political discussion is encouraged, believing they, as lower class citizens, are not authorized to have such discussions
In contrast to the individuals who choose not to participate because of their attitudes or perceived efficacy towards current politics, there, are others who have tried to participate, but have become disillusioned in their efforts. This condition appears to be more predominant in Guyana to precipitate “non-voting”.
Despite the increasing amount of public discourse – in the newspapers letters column, for instance – satisfaction with public discussion is low. This indicates that many citizens feel as if these public opportunities are essentially a waste of time, and that there is not enough listening and response to concerns.
Thus, lack of public participation could partially be attributed, not to apathy or preconceived attitudes, but rather to individual frustration with ineffective public discussion structures and processes that do not encourage dialogic communication and leave citizens with the impression (and possible reality) that they are not being heard.
We call upon all Guyanese, especially poorer and disadvantaged ones, who have registered to vote and have uplifted their I.D. cards to turn out tomorrow and exercise your franchise. In addition to being your right, it is your democratic duty – to yourself as much as your country.

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Democratic Participation

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