Participatory democracy/ Citizen participation

Definition: A form of organized involvement by the citizens of a society in publicly concerning government events and legislature.

Example: The act of voluntarily voting in the United States of America signifies a citizen's voice and opinion concerning the election of elected officials who represent the people.

Female citizens engaging in participatory democracy by advocating for the right for women to vote. 

Image credit: Thompson, Paul. "A band of 'new girls' of the Women's Suffrage Movement prepare to invade New York's Wall Street, armed with leaflets and slogans demanding votes for women."Getty Images. Web. 5 February 2016.

From the text: Kevin DeLuca and Jennifer Peeples used their article From Public Sphere to Public Screen: Democracy, Activism, and the "Violence" of Seattle to demonstrate how "technological and cultural changes of the 20th century... have transformed the rules and roles of participatory democracy" (Deluca and Peeples, 184). Individual citizens as well as groups of citizens can make their voices heard to the world via the vast array of relatively new communication resources available to the public, including the Internet. According to Deluca and Peeples, these changes have resulted in "a vast expansion of geographical consciousness" (Delcua and Peeples, 188) that keeps the public informed about their opportunities to engage in participatory democracy.

Works Cited: 

DeLuca, Michael and Jennifer Peeples. "From Public Sphere to Public Screen: Democracy, Activism, and the "Violence" of Seattle." Readings on the Rhetoric of Social Protest. By Charles E. Morris III and Stephen H. Brown. 3rd ed. 183-203. Desire 2 Learn. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. 

Parker, Bob. "The Theory of Citizen Participation." www.pages.uoregon.edu. 21 Oct. 2003. Web. 5 Feb. 2016