Young populations in young democracies
Generational voting behaviour in sub-Saharan Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6253545 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Donald Resnick (0000-0001-6285-3461, United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research), Danielle Resnick, Daniela Casale (0000-0003-1337-1196, University of KwaZulu-Natal) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1172-1194 |
| Publication date | 2014-09-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Democratization (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13510347.2013.793673 |
| OpenAlex | W2035517204 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 23 |
| References cited | 57 |
Why do young Africans participate less in elections than their older counterparts? Given Africa's growing youth bulge, this constituency represents a numerically important voting bloc, and their lower participation in elections could undermine the legitimacy of the region's democratic trajectory. We address this question through a multi-level model that relies on individual-level data from the Afrobarometer surveys and country-level data for 19 of the region's more democratic countries. We classify Africa's youth as belonging to two categories, those aged 18–24 and those aged 25–35. We find that key determinants of the youth's voting behaviour include their access to political knowledge and information as well as their perceptions of the electoral context and party system. In the latter regard, the efficacy and fairness of elections and the degree of partisanship increase the youth's decision to vote, while the length of party incumbency is a deterrent to turnout. These findings hold important implications by highlighting that Africa's youth not only need to be exposed to greater fora for learning about the political process and party options but also that political parties in the region need to become more relevant to this constituency
Context (archaeology · Democracy · Democratic legitimacy · Geography · Legitimacy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Survey data collection · Turnout · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Media Influence and Politics
Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990
“A chokehold position”
Empowering young citizens through the practice of accountability
Violence and youth voter turnout in sub-saharan Africa
Shades of party activism
Does cohort size matter? Assessing the effect of youth cohort size and peer influence on young people’s electoral participation
Gender difference in support for Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Political change in African cities
Do Youth Bulges Affect Voting and Protesting? An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis
Young Voters, Abstainers and Unregistered
Urbanisation and the political demography of African cities
Opportunities or risks for civic education in electoral democracies? Evidence from Nigeria
Age and Political Participation in Africa’s Electoral Regimes
Increasing Youth Political Engagement with Efficacy Not Obligation
Online censorship and young people’s use of social media to get news
No votes for old men
The return of silent elections
Partisanship as Cause, Not Consequence, of Participation
Political Engagement and Opinions of Youth in Post-apartheid South Africa
Separatist Threat, Militarization and Voter Turnout
Explaining youth political mobilization and its absence
Youth in West and Central Africa
The Country Is on One Leg
Participation in America
World Development Report 2007
Cultivating Democracy
Politics in Ghana, 1946-1960
Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945
Democratic Phoenix
Africa's Restless Youth
Is Voting for Young People
Modernization and Postmodernization
The Time of Youth
Political Participation and Democracy in Britain
Explaining voter turnout
Understanding government and opposition parties in Botswana
A Generation Apart? Youth and Political Participation in Britain
Does Television Erode Social Capital? A Reply to Putnam
Urban youth in Africa
Voice and Equality
Globalization and the transformation of the national political space
Social Desirability and Response Validity
Public opinion, democracy, and market reform in Africa
Structural and Ideological Voting in Age Cohorts
Should the Voting Age be Lowered to Sixteen? Normative and Empirical Considerations
Who votes in Africa? An examination of electoral participation in 10 African countries
Assessing African Party Systems after the Third Wave
Political Knowledge and Electoral Participation in the Netherlands
The Institutionalization of Political Power in Africa
Democratization by Elections? Opposition Weakness in Africa
European Journal of Political Research
Where does turnout decline come from
Turnout in Electoral Democracies
Electoral participation in the Netherlands
Political Participation and the Life Cycle
The Source of Turnout Decline
Effective” Number of Parties
Political Participation in a New Democracy
Economic Conditions and Incumbent Support in Africa's New Democracies
Voter Turnout in Africa's Multiparty Regimes
The ‘Born Frees
What Affects Voter Turnout
Correcting for Survey Misreports Using Auxiliary Information with an Application to Estimating Turnout
Democratizing a (Quasi) Democracy
Explaining Voter Turnout in Latin America, 1980 to 2000
Getting Stuck in the Compound
Presidentialism and clientelism in Africa's emerging party systems
Bowling Young
Becoming a Habitual Voter
A Theory of the Calculus of Voting
Party Systems and Electoral Volatility in Latin America
The Political Impact of Economic Crisis in Latin America in the 1980s
| Unique citing works | 23 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,09 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 23 |