Age and Political Participation in Africa’s Electoral Regimes

• This article examines the relationship between age and four typesof political participation. Previous research has examined the age-participation nexus in the context of established democracies. Incontrast,  few  studies  have  been  devoted  to  assessing  agedifferences in other contexts, particularly those of Africa, where themeaning of age and age groups could be different than inindustrialised democracies. We argued in Africa that age’seffect onpolitical participation would vary depending on the country andacross  different  forms  of  political  participation.  AnalysingAfrobarometer survey data for 34 African countries, wefind that therelationship between age and three forms of participation (voting,contacting and collective action) is curvilinear, with younger andolder people less likely to participate. While for protest participation,the relationship between age and participation is linear, withprotest decreasing with age. Next, we uncover that the countries’policy formulation, implementation and electoral integrity affect therelationship between age and political participation. In contrast,breaking down the analysis into regional subsamples (West, Central,East, Southern, and North Africa), we observe no patterns ofregional differences concerning political participation.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Statsvetenskap

Political Science

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