Understanding how citizens participate in politics is important because it shapes political culture and the tenor of democracy. The standard research framing of Pacific politics, centring around institutions both formal and informal, fails to fully account for the myriad of ways in which non-elite Pacific Islanders experience and relate to politics in their daily lives. This scholarly approach results in limited engagement with informal sites of politics and non-elite engagement with these sites. We argue that what is missing is a research approach that focusses on how ordinary people actively and purposefully participate in politics in the region, and what it means for Pacific Islanders to be citizens who participate in politics. The concept of political participation provides a more fruitful entry point to fully understanding the changing political dynamics of the region.

中文翻译：

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重新审视太平洋地区政治参与的概念

了解公民如何参与政治很重要，因为它塑造了政治文化和民主的基调。以正式和非正式机构为中心的太平洋政治标准研究框架未能充分解释非精英太平洋岛民在日常生活中体验和与政治相关的无数方式。这种学术方法导致对非正式政治网站的参与有限，而非精英人士与这些网站的接触有限。我们认为缺少的是一种研究方法，该方法专注于普通人如何积极和有目的地参与该地区的政治，以及太平洋岛民成为参与政治的公民意味着什么。