Political Generations in Developing Countries: Evidence and Insights from Algeria

Abstract

The socialization literature has examined whether individuals who pass through their formative years during definable historical eras constitute political generations characterized by shared dispositions or collective memories that outlast the eras themselves. Drawing upon 1995 public opinion data from Algeria, we ask whether political generations are discernible in a non-Western society in which the government and politics have undergone fundamental transformations in character and normative orientation. We find evidence that shared attitudes characterize Algerians who came of age during the regime of President Houari Boumedienne—a stable 13-year period from 1965 to 1978 marked by centralized political leadership, low grassroots political participation, and state-led socialism. Other cohorts are not similarly distinguishable, however, nor does the Boumedienne cohort differ from others with respect to a number of political, economic, and cultural orientations. Like other studies, this research indicates that some historical periods produce durable generation effects while others do not and that some attitudes acquired during the formative years of late adolescence and early adulthood persist over time while others do not.

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