Man kan inte göra mer än att rösta - en studie av ungdomars upplevelse av sitt deltagande i demokratin.

Sammanfattning: Participation of the people is essential for a democracy's vitality and survival. In this study we focus on the individual as an active participant in the traditional political arena and beyond its sphere into the society as a whole. The first part of the study has a normative aim. Firstly we examine why political participation is essential for democracy, and especially the ideal of representative democracy and the restricted passive participation of its citizens in comparison to the ideal of participatory democracy and its ideal of an active participant in all aspects of society. An ideal participant is drawn up to set the course for the empirical part of the study. This study claims that it is of vital importance that youth in upper secondary school are identifying themselves as active participants. To examine if youth in Sweden are to be identified as participants or observers, this is characterized as the antithesis of the ideal participant, we conducted value clarifications exercises in 5 school classes in the south part of Sweden. Our conclusion is that the youths that we examined are rather observers of the democracy than active participants, except in the act of voting.