Democratic Demise? A longitudinal study of political support in South Africa over 20 years
| dc.contributor.advisor | Schulz-Herzenberg, Collette | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Giles, Sarah Beth | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-02-04T10:30:34Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-02-04T10:30:34Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-12 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Citizen support for democratic actors and institutions and, to an even greater extent, the democratic regime and political community, is a vital component for regime legitimation and the consolidation of democracy. Theories of political support argue that should poor performance of political actors and institutions persist for an extended period, this may begin to erode the diffuse base of support for the democratic regime and political community. The poor performance of political actors and institutions over recent years in South Africa provides an ideal country context for testing this hypothesis. This quantitative study traces citizen support for democratic actors and institutions as well as support for the democratic regime and political community over 20 years in democratic South Africa, observing a decline in support for almost all of the above-mentioned political components. A declining trend in support for the political community is, however, less clear. This study employs statistical analysis to determine correlations between measures of support for actors and institutions (specific support) and support for the democratic regime and political community (diffuse support). Despite clear indications that specific support for political actors and institutions as well as diffuse support for the political regime have both declined over time, it appears that these two trends are unrelated. This finding is in contrast with the broader literature on political support, which argues that declines in specific support will eventually erode support for the broader democratic system. These findings may indicate that South Africans distinguish between regime type and regime performance, which represents a positive outcome for democratic consolidation and legitimacy. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.version | Masters | en_ZA |
| dc.format.extent | 210 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131664 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Democratic Demise? A longitudinal study of political support in South Africa over 20 years | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |