Introduction – Minority Participation in Estonia and Latvia
Publisher: Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe Volume: 18 pages, pdf Description: High levels of active political participation are considered to be indicators of stable democracies. Low levels of participation, in turn, are related to disaffection with the political process and the political system more generally (Agarin, 2013; Pharr et al., 2000). For individuals and groups, political participation has both a ‘voice’ and an ‘identification’ function: participants in democratic political processes have an opportunity to make their interests and concerns heard, and where they are able to, muster enough political power to influence the outcome of decision-making processes; effective participation and the understanding that their views are valued in society in turn is linked to enhanced feelings of belonging and identification of citizens with the larger community.