Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Citizenship and Social Influence: A Comparative Study of the Public Sphere in Africa

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This Doctoral Dissertation Research Support project is a comparative study of the public sphere in West and North Africa and of the contextual forces shaping the public and political domains. In particular, the research investigates tensions between the overlapping spheres of state and religious authority, and what this means for democratic politics and reform. To these ends, the project asks how individuals in Senegal and Morocco form political attitudes toward the state and how individuals conceptualize their own roles as citizens of a national state. Analysis is undertaken to take account of the processes of political communication during which individuals come to understand their relationship with the state. The research tests hypotheses regarding the effects of social influence herein defined as contextual influences such as religion and the neighborhood on political actions, attitudes and identities. This research investigates contextual effects in non-Western settings and looks at local social interactions in two predominately Muslim countries with histories of French colonial occupation. The selection of cases allows for cross-cultural and cross-regional comparisons and embeds variations in political systems, racial and ethnic differences, and Islamic religious practices. Senegal provides a case in which, though democratic, power was transferred to the opposition through electoral means for the first time in 2000. Though democratic reforms have been implemented in Morocco's constitutional monarchy, no transition has yet taken place. Insights from the research in Senegal and Morocco will enhance understanding of citizenship and political attitude formation in developing and democratizing countries more generally, and specifically in those with Muslim majorities.