The link between Political Participation and Life Satisfaction

Is there a relationship between political participation and individual life satisfaction? The idea that political participation makes people more satisfied with their lives has long been debated. However, the existing empirical research has not been very successful in demonstrating that such a relationship exists while some studies show that instead it is individual life satisfaction that impacts political participation. This dissertation focuses on the issue of causality between political participation and individual life satisfaction. The first three articles are dedicated to assert whether there is a causal relationship between political participation and life satisfaction. Using panel data, no evidence of such a relationship was found. Given these results, this dissertation then moves to question if the connection between political participation and life satisfaction is conditioned by the political context and type of political participation. Using cross-sectional data, it was shown that there is an effect of political participation on life satisfaction, contingent to the type of participation act and conditioned at the higher level by the openness of the political system.

Papers:

Pirralha, André. 2016. The relationship of Political Participation and Life Satisfaction: A multi-level analysis of the European context. Working paper.

Pirralha, André. 2016. Does Political Participation enhance life satisfaction? A causal analysis using longitudinal panel data. Working paper.

Pirralha, André The Link Between Political Participation and Life Satisfaction: A Three Wave Causal Analysis of the German SOEP Household Panel Soc Indic Res 138, 793–807 (2018).

Pirralha, André Political Participation and Wellbeing in the Netherlands: Exploring the Causal Links. Applied Research Quality Life 12, 327–341 (2017).