Mobilization,participation,and political change

Abstract

Mobilization is itself a form of political participation, chosen with attention to the effects that an intervention in politics by significant numbers of others might be expected to produce, the costs that will need to be borne in order to produce it, and the effectiveness and cost of other kinds of investments in political influence. This essay focuses on the political participation of political mobilizers, the actors behind the actors in mass politics. Considering matters from the perspective of the elites who might solicit citizen involvement, I review some of the major ways that politics in the United States has changed over the last two decades, their implications for the cost-effectiveness of mobilization as a strategy in politics, and the evidence – such as exists – for their effects on mass participation in American elections and government. The regularization of two-party competitive politics, the polarization of political elites and the electorate, and the shifting regulation of campaigns and elections, I argue, have affected the opportunities, incentives, and resources for mobilization as the strategy of choice for campaigns, parties, and advocates in America.