Political Participation and Protest - Period 5 Social Sciences & Humanities Program Spring 2023 Semester - Extended - Amsterdam

Countries in the world differ in their levels and the types of political participation. Western democracies offer their citizens a whole variety of opportunities to express their preferences to political power holders, ranging from electoral political participation like voting, party or association membership, contacting political actors etc. to non-electoral participation, most often protest behavior, such as demonstrating, petitioning, striking, boycotting but also more radical activities. In less advanced democracies and democratizing countries, some types of political participation might be less effective (e.g. voting) or risky (e.g. protesting), so citizens tend to embark in the action that best fits the political context. We will analyze the intended and unintended ways in which contemporary developments affect the degree, forms and contents of political (non-)participation in the different contexts. Attention will be paid to both electoral political participation (voting), as well as non-electoral political participation (protest), radicalization and extremism.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.