How do France and Germany compare in the world of participatory political communities? This volume 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 two of Europe's largest democracies. Written by an international team of political scientists, it starts with an outline of the participatory traditions in both countries before turning to the theoretical foundations of empirical research regarding the role of political participation in modern democracies.
It provides an overview of how the perception of political participation has changed over the years and the forms of both conventional participation, particularly with regard to electoral participation, and unconventional participation like protest and other new forms of citizen involvement are analysed in detail. Exploring new approaches in participation research, social participation is seen as not just correlating with political participation, but as a specific form of civic engagement in itself. A broad range of activities, such as electoral and party related participation, political protest, participation in voluntary associations, voting in referenda and taking part in dialogue-orientated participatory activities is examined and the analysis identifies which societal, institutional and cultural factors account for the differences and similarities between the two countries.
Political Participation in France and Germany is the first volume of its kind. Its editors, Oscar W. Gabriel, Silke I. Keil and Eric Kerrouche, have put together an original and unusual work that compares political behavior in the two neighboring countries in a direct manner. While considering multiple forms of political activism, from conventional events to unconventional acts, the authors of the various chapters highlight the many similarities and few differences that these two countries reveal in the way in which citizens act politically. -- Francesca Vassallo, 'French Politics'
Oscar W Gabriel is a professor of political science at the University of Stuttgart, associate researcher and former visiting professor at the Institute of Political Science Bordeaux. His main research areas are political sociology and political psychology.
Silke I Keil is an assistant professor of Political Science and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart. 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 a professor at the Institute d'Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux. He is part of the LEA-CODE, a cooperative project between the University of Stuttgart and the IEP to analyse European democratic systems in the context of the enhancement of the European Union. His research interests range from local politics, elected officials and terroritorial reforms to methods in social science.
Jürgen Bauknecht is a researcher at the Department of Political Systems and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart. His scientific focus lies in political attitudes and behaviour, political participation and welfare state research. Furthermore he specialises in methods of empirical social science. He was chief executive officer of the German partial study of the European Social Survey.
Björn Egner leads the Department of Methods of Political Science at the Technical University of Darmstadt. He researches on fields of local politics and local elites. Besides numerous contributions to these topics, his most important monographs are Einstellungen deutscher Bürgermeister: Lokale Eliten zwischen Institutionen und Kontext (Nomos, 2007) and, together with Michael Haus, Hubert Heinelt and Christine König, Partizipation und Führung in der Lokalen Politik (Nomos, 2005).
Kristina Faden-Kuhn is researcher at the Department of Political Systems and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart. Her research interests encompass political attitudes and behaviour, political psychology and methods in the field of empirical social research. Currently, she is working on her dissertation about the meaning of emotions for political judgments.
Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot is Professor of Political Science and Director of Sciences Po Bordeaux. He is the author of Le gouvernement des villes. Une comparaison internationale (L’Harmattan) and editor of Metropolitanization and Political Change (VS Verlag, 2005; French edition, CNRS Press 2007) as well as numerous articles and book chapters.
Christoph Premat is French co-operation attaché at the Embassy of France in Sweden. Before that he was trainee at the European Parliament. He studies German-French relations, international co-operation, and the comparison of the French and German political systems. He is the author of La pratique du référendum local en France et en Allemagne: Le moment référendaire dans la temporalité démocratique (Editions Universitaires, 2010) and also a contributor to Handwörterbuch der Deutsch-Französischen Beziehungen (Nomos, 2009).
Ortwin Renn serves as full professor and chair of environmental sociology and technology assessment at Stuttgart University. He directs the Interdisciplinary Research Unit for Risk Governance and Sustainable Technology Development at the University of Stuttgart and the non-profit making company DIALOGIK, a research institute for the investigation of communication and participation processes in environmental policy making. He is primarily interested in risk governance, political participation and technology assessment. He has published more than thirty books and 250 articles, most recently the monograph Risk Governance (Earthscan, 2008).
Emmanuel Rivat finished his masters in international relations at Sciences Po Bordeaux. He holds a doctorate in political sciences and works with Sciences Po Bourdeaux and the University of Amsterdam. His dissertation addresses the anti-nuclear movement in France and the Netherlands from the 1970s to the present. In line with this, he deals primarily with topics such as social movements, ecology and nuclear power, civil disobedience, non-violence. In his studies of international relations, he follows a constructivist perspective.
Pia-Johanna Schweitzer is a research assistant at the Department of Environmental Sociology and Technology Assessment at the University of Stuttgart. In 2008, she completed her dissertation on the subject of discursive risk regulation. She researches questions of risk governance and risk sociology. Her latest publication in collaboration with other researchers is Precautionary Risk Appraisal and Management: An Orientation for Meeting the Precautionary Principle in the European Union (Europäischer Hochschulverlag, 2009).
Matthias Stauer was a student at the Department of Political Systems and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart (chair of Oscar W. Gabriel). He worked on participation, especially social capital.
Angelika Vetter is researcher at the Department of Political Systems and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart. She teaches and writes on political sociology, comparative politics and empirical social science. Especially she is interested in the political system of Germany and the analysis of local politics. Among her (co-)edited books are: Lokale Politikforschung heute (VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008), Erfolgsbedingungen lokaler Bürgerbeteiligung (VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008) and Local Politics: A Resource for Democracy in Western Europe? Local Autonomy, Local Integrative Capacity (Lexington Books, 2007).
Kerstin Völkl is a researcher at the Department of System Analysis and Comparative Politics at the University of Halle. She researches in the field of political attitudes, political participation and social participation, local politics, political sociology, and also parliamentarianism. Kerstin Völkl has published lots of contributions in national and international journals and edited volumes. One of her latest works is Reine Landtagswahlen oder regionale Bundestagswahlen? Eine Untersuchung des Abstimmungsverhaltens bei Landtagswahlen 1990–2006 (Nomos, 2009).
