Forced participation in politics

Participation in politics may be enforced by public or social pressure to vote during elections or referenda, to join political clubs or youth movements, or to to work for a party or 'national' effort. Enforced participation is a feature of many dictatorships and single party systems to channel potentially dissident political energy away from subversive activities. Such participation may produce conformism and apathy, and possibly alienation. It serves to strengthen a dictatorship and is an inherently unstable political situation.