The State of Political Participation in Post-Communist Democracies: Low but Surprisingly Little Biased Citizen Engagement

The article assesses the state af political participation in Cemral and East European post-conmnmistdemocracies. Incoporating the most recent data, it compares the emerging trends in political participationto those observed in the established democracies of Westem Europe. The finding reveal that post-communist citizens participate substanlially less than their Western counterparts, and, contrary to some expectations, no convergence has been taking place. This is due to a host of factors, the importance of which seems to vary according to the type of polilical activity. It is subsequenly shown that while politicalparticipation is lower than in Westem Europe, it is not markedly more biased. The poor statz of polilicalparticipation therefore does not appear to seriously undermine the quality of the post-communist democratic process