Political participation and civic engagement : towards a new typology

Reviewing the literature on political participation and civic engagement, the articleoffers a critical examination of different conceptual frameworks. Drawing on previousdefinitions and operationalisations, a new typology for political participation and civicengagement is developed, highlighting the multidimensionality of both concepts. Inparticular, it makes a clear distinction between manifest 'political participation'(including formal political behaviour as well as protest or extra-parliamentary politicalaction) and less direct or 'latent' forms of participation, conceptualized here as 'civicengagement' and 'social involvement'. The article argues that the notion of 'latent'forms of participation is crucial to understand new forms of political behaviour and theprospects for political participation in different countries. Due to these innovations itcontributes to a much-needed theoretical development within the literature on politicalparticipation and citizen engagement