Revisiting the Concept of Political Participation in the Pacific

Understanding how citizens participate in politics is important because it shapes political culture and the tenor of democracy. The standard research framing of Pacific politics, centring around institutions both formal and informal, fails to fully account for the myriad of ways in which non-elite Pacific Islanders experience and relate to politics in their daily lives. This scholarly approach results in limited engagement with informal sites of politics and non-elite engagement with these sites. We argue that what is missing is a research approach that focuses on how ordinary people actively and purposefully participate in politics in the region, and what it means for Pacific Islanders to be citizens who participate in politics. The concept of political participation provides a more fruitful entry point to fully understanding the changing political dynamics of the region.

重新审视太平洋地区政治参与的概念

关键词：民主；发展；制度；太平洋群岛；政治参与。

理解公民如何参与政治是非常重要的，因为它塑造了政治文化以及民主的进程。 太平洋地区政治的标准研究框架是围绕着正式以及非正式制度建立的，失于不能充分解读非精英的太平洋岛民在日常生活中体验以及涉及到政治的多种方式。这种学术方法导致对于政治中的非正式场所以及这些场所的非精英性参与的非常有限的关注。我们认为，此前缺失这样一种研究方法——它能够关注普通人怎样积极及有目的地在这个地区参与政治，以及对于太平洋岛民来说作为公民参与政治意味着什么。 政治参与的概念提供了一个更为丰硕的切入点，以充分理解这个地区演变中的政治动态。

Translated from English by Li Guo