Meaning of Political Participation : 

Direct or indirect involvement of common people in the political activities of a country is called political participation. Political participation of common people is ensured by the higher authorities of political system with the help of constitutional provisions. 

Democracy and political participation are complementary to each other. Famous political thinker Pericles has written “Every book related to political participation is also related to democracy.”

Following views advocate the need of political participation : 

1. Political participation protects the interests of participants as well. 

2. Political participation produces and increases moral, social and political awareness in the citizens. 

3. Political participation produces the tendency of unity among the people to achieve the common goal. 

4. Political participation motivates the people to think for public welfare and common interests neglecting the narrow thoughts of own welfare only.

Critical Evaluation of Political Participation : 

Political participation is a must for democracy, but it requires some solid action for its result-oriented implementation. Generally, the democracy supporters stress over the extension of public participation in politics, but they do not provide a viable scheme for it.

The critical assessment of political participation is as following :

1. In democracy, the participation of common people in politics is beneficial upto a limit only. Beyond this limit, it becomes disadvantageous. 

2. Public cannot wait for a long time for the results of public welfare schemes to materialise and therefore, the people become restless and aggressive. 

3. If more political participation is allowed to general public, they might bring their complaints and quarrels on the roads and it might disturb the general public life. 

4. When common people come on the roads for their conflicts then it becomes impossible to control them.

We can see the denatured figure of more political participation of general public in the form of road blockings, marches, strikes, destruction of public property, stone-petting, etc. In such situations, the clever politicians compel the government to accept their improper demands and all this happens in the name of political participation. Hence, only the sensible use or application of political participation can provide meaningful results.