THE DETERMINANTS OF AFRICAN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: A MODEL FOR VOTER TURNOUT

In the lingering shadow of colonialism, African states have sprouted shallow, unstable democratic roots; the success of which is reliant upon the collective engagement of African citizens. In this paper, the socioeconomic determinants of political participation are analyzed econometrically. We use the Afrobarometer 5th Round dataset which provides large-scale data of 55,000 individuals across 34 African countries (Afrobarometer, 2015). The data analysis includes traditional political participation determinants, or those found to be significant in previous literature, as baseline control. Additional independent variables, like perceived corruption, party affiliation, and democratic perceptions, are then tested for significant participatory influence.