Social Status and Political Participation of Rich and Poor Citizens in Africa

This book seeks to explore a fundamental obscurity in electoral behavior literature: while socioeconomic status is typically robustly and positively associated with a higher propensity for voting worldwide, the relationship in Africa is either negative or non-existent. Building upon the author's previous works relating to political participation, behavior and electoral processes, this work focuses specifically on 35 sub-Saharan African political system case studies and analyzes why resource-poor Africans tend to display greater electoral participation than their more comparatively affluent counterparts. Drawing from a methodologicaltheoretical framework utilizing Afrobarometer data and group mobilization theories such as the civic voluntarism model, electoral clientelism, democratic quality, preference theory and institutional perspectives, this book makes an original contribution to analyzing African regions less well-examined in existing comparative participatory political science literatures.

Analyzes the reverse relationship between socioeconomic status and voting in Africa using Afrobarometer data Explores why the resource-poor participate more often in elections than their comparatively more affluent citizens Unlocks important knowledge on African electoral competition while contributing to wider debates in comparative politics

Autorentext

Elvis Bisong Tambe is a senior lecturer in Political Science at Linnaeus University, Sweden.

His research interests lie in the field of political behavior, political participation, public opinion, voting and electoral processes, with a focus on new and emerging democracies. He is the author of Electoral Participation in Newly Consolidated Democracies: Turnout in Africa, Latin America, East Asia and Post-Communist Europe (Routledge, 2021)

Inhalt

1.The Puzzle.- 2.Socioeconomic Status and Voting in Africa: A Closer Look.- 3.Group Membership and the Mobilisation of Resource-Poor Voters.- 4.Reward Mobilisation and the Participation of Resource-Poor Citizens.- 5.Egime Type, Democratic Quality, and the Participation of Resource-rich Citizens.- 6.Policy Preferences and the Participation of Resource-rich Citizens.- 7.Institutional Context.- 8.Conclusion.

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