ABSTRACT
One of the most defining features of a quality democracy is that the public actively participates in various spheres of political life and political processes. According to Joseph (1997), a political system can be called democratic if it allows the “broadest deliberation in determining public policy, and constitutionally guarantees all the freedoms necessary for open political competition,” while Dahl (1971) also places participation as one of his two defining dimensions of polyarchy. Political participation enables ordinary citizens to voice preferences and to channel complaints, therefore increasing the possibility for politicians to respond to public concerns expressed outside their formal information channels. Therefore, in empirical framework to measure quality of democracy (Diamond and Morlino 2005; Kaufmann, Kraay, and Mastruzzi 2014), the extent and quality of political participation (also called “voices”) often feature significantly.
