There is widespread agreement among democratic theorists ranging from Jean Jacques Rousseau to James Madison, John Stuart Mill, Robert Dahl, Benjamin Barber, David Held, and John Dryzak that mass participation is essential to the lifeblood of representative democracy, although there is continued debate about how much civic engagement is either necessary or desirable. Theorists advocating “strong” democracy suggest that citizen activism and deliberation are intrinsically valuable in themselves. More minimalist conceptions, proposed by Schumpeterian theorists, suggest that the essential role of citizens should be relatively limited, confined principally to the periodic election of parliamentary representatives, along with the continuous scrutiny of government actions. If participation is indeed in secular decline across all modes, then this should indeed be a cause for alarm. But is the widespread concern justified? This chapter summarizes the central argument developed throughout the book, highlights the key findings, and considers the implications for understanding the evolution of democratic participation.

To recapitulate, the heart of this book examines evidence concerning three core claims. The first is that there has been a steady secular erosion of the traditional avenues of political engagement, including electoral turnout, party work, and civic activism. The second claim is that long-term processes of societal modernization and human development (including rising levels of literacy, education, and wealth) are the primary drivers shaping these changes, in a predictable curvilinear trajectory from developing to industrialized societies, although the pace of change is conditioned by the structure of the state, the role of mobilizing agencies, and the resource and motivational differences among groups and individuals.