Bystander publics

Bystander publics lack the longstanding political motivation of the engaged publics of political parties or social movements, and so are important for different reasons, depending on one's direction of analysis. For those interested in expanded political agency, bystander publics are the standing reserve of political action, available for recruitment to parties and movements. For those concerned with apathy, bystander publics signal entropy in political systems: the temporarily mobilized lose interest and revert to the “bystander frame” which simply wants an end to conflict. These two contrasting scenarios make this difficult-to-define group of rich interest.