Political Participation in a New Democracy

Abstract

Why, in a new African democracy, have citizens passed up opportunities for involvement in national political life? In explaining low levels of political participation in Zambia, this article tests competing arguments against an original set of survey data. It finds that gender is a better demographic predictor of participation than socioeconomic status and that attachments to traditional authority are conducive to political activism. Participation is shaped most powerfully, however, by the availability of political institutions that link citizen to state. Although institutional considerations are more important than cultural values in explaining participation, the former do not entirely displace the latter. Instead, the study finds a synergistic relationship between political party formation and citizen interest in politics in the early stages of building democracy. Theoretically, this finding suggests that the consolidation of political regimes, including democracy, is best conceived as a process of reciprocal codetermination between institution building and cultural change.

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