ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the nature of political participation. It presents a typology of political participation and activism. This is intended to illustrate the range of activity that occurs within the various organisations studied in the course of this research. Having investigated a relatively wide range of organisations, one might have initially expected to encounter radically different forms of participation. During the course of the authors' interviews with those respondents who displayed high levels of involvement in political life, the author became aware of a strong tendency toward forms of activity that were built around administrative concerns. The concern about the dominance of administrative activity is felt within the Campaigns Department of the British section of Amnesty International. A further aspect of political activity that bridges the various organisations relates to the 'social' dimension of political life. For some of the respondents, active involvement in political life offers the facility for establishing social links.
