The relation between political participation, democratic institutions and culture

Starting from the definitions of political participation and of democracy, the present investigation analyses the explanatory theories on the citizens' political involvement in a democratic culture. Therefore, four definitions of political participation are presented: 1) participation as vote; 2) participation as attempt of influencing the government; 3) participation as direct action; 4) participation as discussion. Afterwards, two theoretical perspectives are focused in the contemporary political debate: the one of the political culture and the institutionalist. These two approaches show different causes for the participation and involvement of citizens with politics and are thus relevant to the debate about the low participation and the ways of democracy in the contemporary world.