Browsing by Author "Maree, Hester Mullerene"

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    Democratic disconnect? The youth and democracy in South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-04) Maree, Hester Mullerene; Schulz-Herzenberg, Collette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Democracy requires and active and supportive citizenry. People can be active citizens by providing both attitudinal and behavioural support for democracy. Attitudes are drivers of political behaviour. Without positive attitudes, there can be no positive behaviours. Political participation can be divided into two parts: conventional and unconventional. Voting is essential for any democracy to prevail. However, recently, there has been a shift in electoral participation – voter turnout among young people has been on the decline and they are shifting away from conventional modes of participation, to unconventional modes of participation. Along with this shift, young people have also grown more sceptical of political actors and institutions. They feel unrepresented by political processes and they feel unsatisfied with the current democracy. Globally, this is a growing concern. However, it is an even bigger concern in younger democracies. South Africa is a relatively new democracy, with a growing youth bulge. Young South African’s are also distancing themselves from electoral politics. The fact that young people in South Africa are not participating in politics, means that the future stability and legitimacy of the regime is being put to the test. This study aims to examine whether there are differences in attitudinal and behavioural bases of support for democracy among young people, compared to their older counterparts. Thereafter, the study explores whether or not changes in attitudinal support can account for changes in behavioural bases of support for democracy. The study adopts a quantitative research design to be able to examine and answer the three research questions. Data was obtained from the Afrobarometer Survey Round 7 and the Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP) post-election survey. The results suggest that there are differences in attitudinal bases of support for democracy among young people, compared to their older counterparts. The study also indicates that young people are not participating in conventional forms of political participation. Lastly, the study shows that there are correlations between trust and political participation, which suggests that changes in attitudinal bases of support can account for differences in behavioural bases of support for democracy across age groups.