Political Apathy to Political Involvement: Where on the spectrum is ideal for a democracy?
Author: Hailey Boggs
In 2025, what does an ideal democracy look like? This is a complex question with infinite answers depending on the particular democracy and even a specific person's outlook on the world. A core value, however, that most believe, is that people must be involved and feel represented and listened to by their government. Everyone being involved has its benefits with the inclusion of more groups benefiting a democracy's health (Pitkin and Shumer, 1982). However, having too many voices with varied opinions on every minute detail of laws can also cause a stampede of opinions leading to little getting done. As Schumpeter's theory of democracy argues, people participating in democracy is not particularly special and if a certain quota of people participate, the electoral machine will keep working (Pateman, 1970). It is clearly all about balance; having too much input creates ineffectiveness, while not enough can create resentment towards political leaders.
Additionally, other theories of democracy like Berelson's show this pattern of many being engaged in civics to be important, but not all. Berelson reasons that not every citizen will inherently be interested and participate in politics, but that this is beneficial in the big picture view of democracy (Pateman, 1970). It is better to have fewer civically engaged citizens voting and giving political input, than forcing everyone, even those who do not want to be engaged. This, however, does not mean that many nations like the US could not benefit from higher voting rates and even incentives for people to vote. Over-engagement is more of an issue when it comes to specific issues and laws being resolved and passed. While only having a select few engaging in elections and then candidates being elected that are not truly representative of a democracy's values is also an issue.
The US and other large democracies are especially challenged to find the perfect spot on the spectrum of apathy to complete participation, with the rise in authoritarian values in many democracies being connected to the amount of politically apathetic people. When only a small number of people are giving input on politics and not checking political institutions when anti-democratic actions are taken, it allows politicians to get away with a lot more. Then when enough people are disengaged, authoritarian politicians take bolder and more restrictive actions to cement control. However, with just a slight shift in societal values, democracies can shift from letting authoritarianism grow to tamping down authoritarian grabs at power. A democracy must have enough people engaged to elect quality candidates that represent the general populace's views but must also not have too many voices where a democracy becomes unproductive.
