The ‘Good Reasons’ for Political Participation on the Internet: An Incentive Model for Participation in Online Consultation Procedures

Citizen participation is a prerequisite for democracy. However, there is disagreement in various democratic theories about the role citizens should play in political decision-making processes within a representative democracy. An empirical critique of the relationship between democracy and participation can be found in the unequal participation of citizens. Political participation is not randomly distributed across society but is subject to social selection mechanisms. The ‘usual suspects’ of political participation share key characteristics such as high socioeconomic resources and a strong interest in politics. At the same time, the diffusion of the internet has created new opportunities to articulate interests and influence the political decision-making process. The dissertation questions whether the opportunity structure of the internet contributes to political mobilization. To this end, an incentive model of political online participation is developed, which refers to the ‘good reasons’ for individual action. The study investigates which goals and motivations citizens associate with political online participation, whether differences in goals exist between certain social groups, and how positive and negative incentives influence online participation.