9.1). What Type of Participation Occurred?
The case of the January 6 riots is the most unconventional form of participation
we have explored and one of the most extreme, unconventional cases of political
participation in modern history, particularly in the United States. As per Daniel
Stockemer’s definition, unconventional participation aims to “influence politics
through non-institutionalised means” (2014). This is precisely what Donald
Trump, and his supportive rioting mob did, as they attempted to halt Joe Biden
becoming President through the extreme non-institutional means. Furthermore,
we can apply our remodelling of Marcin Kaim’s concept of political participation,
to this example. Focusing on only the legal-illegal and institutionalised-not
institutionalised dualisms, as they fit best for the conceptualisation of participation (Kaim 2021). When applying these two to the January 6 th Riots,
firstly the activities of the participation were completely illegal. All of the rioters
entering a restricted government building without permission was highly illegal,
in addition to all the damage caused and people harmed. This case saw the most
illegal form of participation out of each we have explored. Secondly, the storming
of the Capitol was extremely non- institutionalised. Whereby those involved
were protesting directly
against congress, against
the democratic process of
an election and therefore
the institutions of US
politics. As per Kaim, both
of these dualisms going
Figure 8 - Trust in Social Institutions (Boon 2020)
this
way
confirms
the
unconventional nature of this
participation.
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