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Political Culture, Elections, and the implications for Governance in Six Arab Countries
Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of electoral participation, voting, and the connection between the possession of democratic values and expressed support for democracy at the individual level of analysis. This impact is measured in six Arab countries and at three points in time, with country and time-specific attributes considered as conditionalities. The Arab countries are Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. The time periods are 2013, 2018, and 2022. Studies of democracy and democratic transitions place emphasis on the attitudes, values, and behavior patterns of ordinary citizens. More specifically, this research argues that successful democratization requires that a significant proportion of a country’s citizens possess norms and behavior patterns conducive to democracy. Among the relevant normative and behavioral orientations are political trust, political efficacy, political knowledge, interpersonal trust, and societal participation. These individual-level orientations are said to define a “democratic” political culture orientation. Research on democratization also finds that broad support for democracy itself is necessary for a consolidated and sustained democratic transition. A significant proportion of ordinary citizens, this research argues, must believe that democracy is the best form of government by which their country could be governed. Past research in Arab countries has found in this connection that there is indeed widespread popular support for democracy, but that there is often little or no connection between this belief and the possession of a democratic political culture orientation. The paper considers the impact of voting on the relationship between a belief that democracy is the best political system and the possession of democratic values and attitudes. Using Arab Barometer data, it tests two hypotheses. First, when an election is broadly free and fair, this relationship is stronger among those who have voted than among those who have not voted. Second, when an election, broadly, is not free and fair, this relationship is weaker among those who have voted than among those who have not voted.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Arab States
Sub Area
None