In Conclusion

The aim of this volume has been to present examples of work on political participation drawn from what we have termed a critical perspective. Here, we shall not summarise these contributions, rather our aim is briefly, given space constraints, to highlight some of the issues at stake in this literature and, given that, in our view, the changes in contemporary forms of political participation identified here represent significant challenges for democracy to suggest possible ways forward. We begin with a brief resume of the changing patterns of political participation, perhaps best summed up as decoupling of political authorities and citizens. Subsequently, we turn to the question of how they can be recoupled them