Citizen Types and Democracy: differences between critical and allegiant citizens

Citizen Types and Democracy Outline

(2,200 words – references excluded)

Required:

Essay Question: Discuss the differences between critical and allegiant citizens. What are the reasons that might explain the increase in the number of critical citizens in contemporary democracies?

Do not use the exact same lines used in this outline because they are copied from the prof’s slides and the original texts

1. Allegiant Citizen
   1. How did the concept of allegiant citizen emerge? Brief introduction about Almond and Verba’s political culture and political orientations of individuals (don’t expand on this point, just mention them briefly)
      1. Attitudes toward the political system (don’t expand) slide 25
         1. Cognitive orientations → Knowledge and beliefs about the political system
         2. Affective orientations → Feelings about the political system
         3. Evaluative orientations → The judgments and opinions about political objects that involve the combination of value standards with information feelings
      2. Each of these types of attitudes can refer to 4 different types of political objects: (don’t expand) slide-32
         1. The political system as a whole → Attitudes toward the nation, the country, the system of government…
         2. Input objects → Attitudes toward actors and institutions involved in the process by which the flow of demands from the society is transmitted into the political system and converted into policies.
         3. Output objects → Attitudes towards the structures, actors and institutions involved in the downward flow of policy enforcement.
         4. Self as object → Perception of the individual as a member of her political system. Knowledge of rights duties and obligations. How does she feel about his capabilities

• The classification of 3 types of attitudes along with 4 different objects leads to 3 types of citizens: Parochial, Subject, and Participant

1. Allegiant Citizen as an ideal citizen according to Almond & Verba (important: expand on it because it’s about the characteristics of allegiant citizens and their importance) slide 36
   1. A mixture of the subject and participant orientations. These orientations should “manage or keep in place” the participant political orientations
   2. Has a high frequency of political activity and exposure to political information

• Participates in the input process, and oriented positively to the input structures and processes

1. So, an Allegiant citizen is: one that has positive attitudes about the input structures, participation and exposure to information but not too much participation.
2. This leads to a balanced political culture where political activity and involvement exist but are balanced by passivity and traditionality

1. Importance of allegiant citizen and how it contributes to the democratization process
   1. Cultural-institutional congruence thesis “A stable and effective democratic government . . . depends upon the orientations that people have to the political process – upon the political culture. (Almond and Verba 1963, 498)” slide 10 in S3

 

2. Critical Citizen – The Dissatisfied Democrats
   1. Emergence of the concept of Critical Citizen slide 24 AND 25 in S3
      1. Increasing distrust and dissatisfaction with representative institutions (or at least low levels of trust) and rising protests in well-established democracies → Crisis of democracy (Crozier et al)
      2. Attitudes and political culture in less developed countries not as parochial as it was first believed

• Support for democratic regimes widespread around the globe → High democratic aspirations in East Asia and Africa

1. Modernization thesis
   1. Great expansion of education to all sectors of societies during 20th century and information explosion along with the rising existential security led to the emergence of post materialist

(note) Cognitive mobilization: is also referred to as expansion of education slide 22 in S3

2. The emergence of post-materialist values, such as emancipative values, liberty aspirations, environmental and social equality concerns, and self-expression, resulted in a shift in basic authority beliefs.
3. Post-materialist values lead to greater democratic (liberal) aspirations and more critical outlook of the functioning of democracy.

1. Definition: Support democracy as a concept, but dissatisfied with the way it is working (practical side) slide 30 in S3
   1. The phenomenon of dissatisfied democrats or critical citizens “Critical citizens represent the type in which citizens normatively support democracy as the preferred regime but are dissatisfied with the performance of the existing regime as a democracy”
   2. Today critical citizens are conceived as “agents for political reform and further political development in a democratic setting” (Dalton and Shin 2014)

• They are perceived as a positive force. Citizens who remain vigilant with a healthy skepticism toward government. They are not likely to cause democratic breakdown but further and improved democratic rule

1. In autocratic setting these citizens might be the ones who push for reform

3. Reasons for the increasing numbers of critical citizens in contemporary democracies slide 40, 56, in S3 (expand- find more in the sources)
   1. Modern democracies might encourage and teach citizens to be skeptical about government
   2. Rising expectations