Paradox of democracy The political participation of students from the University of Brasilia

Abstract

There is a consensus among scholars that the types of political representation and political participation in contemporary democracies have been undergoing profound changes since the mid-twentieth century, not only in regard to the pluralization of political actors, but also in regard to the space where such processes are exercised. Therefore, much has been investigated about the profile of actors and political institutions in terms of characterization or the intensity of participation and political representation. However, few studies have addressed their analysis to the understanding of subjective evaluations of social actors about their actions and political institutions. In order to bring contribution to this debate, this article presents the results of the research accomplished in the last quarter of 2013 along with students from the University of Brasilia about their interests in participating actively or not in the political universe. It is a study that discusses, basically, the intensity and the qualification of political participation of UnB students, mainly the interpretation of their motivations and their perceptions of making and thinking politics in Brazil.