Citizenship and Civic Life: evolving types of engagement
Authors: Tomaž Deželan, PhD, SALTO Participation & Information
Year of production: 2025
Image by: Henri Mathieu-Saint-Laurent
Citizen engagement has evolved from traditional voting and party membership to a dynamic ecosystem of participation, including digital activism, participatory budgeting, and collaborative governance. Contemporary citizenship, regardless of the space (private, public, civic, commercial, workplace, educational, etc.), requires active involvement across multiple platforms. This reflects a shift from more traditional electoral participation to proactive community engagement oriented towards transformation and social change.
Citizenship has changed a lot over time. People used to participate in traditional ways, but now there are more creative ways to get involved. Below are explanations of some key practices:
Involvement in the political system
Voting, joining a political party, and taking part in campaign activities are still important ways for people to be involved in politics. These are the most basic ways for citizens to interact with the formal political system. Citizens can also get involved by taking part in protest movements, political strikes, or public demonstrations. These actions often challenge traditional ways of making decisions and those in power.
Volunteering
Structured volunteering is more than just doing good. It is a strategic way to build good governance and bring communities together. Volunteering has been promoted in different policy areas as a way to achieve active citizenship and encourage community participation. Also, local community activism is becoming a key way to get involved with citizens actively helping to find and solve community problems. This approach focuses on making changes from the ground up, involving the community rather than relying solely on government-led efforts.
Citizen councils and community forums
Some ways for citizens to be involved in making decisions for their communities include citizen councils and community forums. These groups give citizens a chance to regularly influence local government decisions. At the same time, people are getting more involved in making decisions about how money is spent in their communities. This is called participatory budgeting. It is a way for people to have a say in how their tax money is used. This practice has been successful in helping communities influence local spending decisions and priorities. This leads to people becoming more included in making decisions about the services they use. This is important because when people use public services, they have good ideas about them and should have a say in how those services are made and given.
Collaborative governance
Citizens are now working more frequently together with government, businesses, and nonprofits to solve problems in their communities. This is called “collaborative governance.” It is important because it involves everyone who cares about the community and means that people are able to take part in politics in new ways. They use online activism and digital citizenship to make their voices heard. Digital platforms are becoming important places for people to get involved in their communities and government.
Learning about citizenship
Last but not least, learning about citizenship can also be a way to get involved. Things like hands-on activities and direct democracy experiences are becoming more and more important. Taking part in these activities can be a great way to learn about being a citizen and what it means.
These practices show a change in how citizen involvement is being thought about. Traditionally it has only been thought about in terms of the state, but now there are many other ways people can take part. Successful involvement often includes multiple ways of participation, both official and unofficial, as well as many different spaces that may be close to institutional politics, but also not. Civic life is taking place also in spaces outside the realm of institutional politics. These can be private spaces, spaces of associational activity, and workplaces. These are frequently ignored as spaces relevant for civic life, despite their immense importance for nurturing democratic or undemocratic behavioral patterns. Democracy’s future thus depends on finding new ways for people to be involved no matter what they do and where they are. Participation is about making democracy better.
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Article produced in the framework of the project “Understanding democratic participation across sectors”
Expert group: Anni Karttunen, Charlie Moreno-Romero, Per-Åke Rosvall, Spyros Papadatos, Tomaž Deželan
Coordination: Joana Freitas (SALTO Participation & Information)
Copyedit: Nik Paddington
Project dates: February 2024 to May 2025
Further exploration: Books and publications
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Barnes, S. H., & Kaase, M. (1979). Political action: Mass participation in five western democracies. Sage Publications.
Brady, H. E. (1999). Political participation. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of political attitudes . Academic Press.
Dunn, P., Butcher, H., Banks, S., Henderson, P., & Robertson, J. (2007). Critical community practice. Policy Press.
Garratt, D., & Piper, H. (2008). Citizenship education in England and Wales: Theoretical critique and practical considerations. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice.
Goldsmith, S. (2008). The power of social innovation: How civic entrepreneurs ignite community networks for good. Jossey-Bass.
Norris, P. (2002). Democratic phoenix: Reinventing political activism. Cambridge University Press.
Participatory Budgeting Unit DCLG. (2007). The role and impact of participatory budgeting. Department for Communities and Local Government.
Schugurensky, D., & Myers, J. P. (2003). Learning to teach citizenship: A lifelong learning approach. Encounters on Education.
Torney-Purta, J., Schwille, J., & Amadeo, J. A. (1999). Civic education across countries: Twenty-four national case studies from the IEA civic education project. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.
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