Unit 5.1
Collective identity: Feelings and belonging to the social sphere: Citizen participation and pluralism
Forms of social participation
- Belonging to an NGO:
- A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a non-profit voluntary group, which is organized on a local, national or international level to address issues in support of the public good.
- NGOs can help people directly, spread awareness about a certain problem or fight for certain laws.
- Consumer associations are advocacy groups to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending or false advertising.
- You can also donate money for various foundations and certain projects. You can find those for example at globalgiving.org.
Mechanisms of political participation
- Exercising the right to vote:
- To vote in a general election, you must:
- be registered to vote, for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland you can do it at gov.uk/register-to-vote. You only register once.
- be 18 or over on the day of the election (‘polling day’).
- be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen;
- be resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years);
- not be legally excluded from voting.
- In Scotland to vote in Scottish Parliament and the local election, you have to be 16;
- To vote in a general election, you must:
- Membership to a political party:
- Currently, the biggest political parties are the Labour Party with 519000 members, Conservative Party with 191000 members and SNP with 125534 members.
- You will have to pay a subscription in most cases. Every party has different subscriptions cost.
- Most common restrictions in applying for membership are:
- Age restrictions;
- citizenship restrictions;
- a commitment to the party’s principles;
- limiting holding membership of other political parties;
- limiting standing against officially endorsed candidates;
- membership of specifically prohibited political parties;
- personal conduct expectations and party rule compliance.
Exercises
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