How can political participation be increased?

If political participation is low then this could lead to arbitrary and autocratic government. Participation is one of the main ways that governments can be held accountable and prevented from behaving in an undemocratic fashion.

The following are ways that participation could be increased:

• voting can be made compulsory - such as the system used in Australia. This would force citizens to make themselves more aware of political issues. It may also give them ownership of the outcome of elections. However, it can be seen as an infringement of someones civil liberties to force them to vote, although they could just spoil the ballot paper.
• decreasing the…