OutlineIn the ULQ, election represents the classic and most
widespread means for an individual to choose freely to
participate (or not), by exercising her basic citizenship
rights through expressing her own preferences. There is,
though, a more elementary and less demanding form of
participation, as in the LLQ, through opinions which
can be easily changed. Media are the main channel
through which opinions can be expressed, but also influenced
to the point of manipulation and induced participation.
Quite the opposite, the LRQ indicates intense
political engagement on contentious issues and through
radical forms of mass mobilization, falling within the
category of social movements (Tilly and Tarrow 2006;
Touraine 1981). The URQ refers to participation within
the political system. Organized actors and lobbies play
the role of gatekeepers to most institutional resources,
usually by building more or less overt coalitions to maintain
their monopoly as the power elite in the participatory
game (Berger 1981). [Silvia Bolgherini]
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