Civil Society, Civic Education and Political Participation in Liberia

• In Event: Strengthening Civil Society Under Political Pressure

Abstract

In developing countries, understanding how civil society may increase citizen participation in the political system is vital in order to strengthen fledgling democratic institutions and uphold political stability. Significant amounts of donor funding have been channeled to civil society over the past three decades, under the assumption that increasing the capacity of civil society will lead to stronger, more stable democracies in which citizens are more likely to engage in the political system. However, the ability of civil society to strengthen democracy and facilitate political participation is now regularly called into question. In fact, existing empirical evidence indicates that while civil society may sometimes facilitate conventional forms of participation that can strengthen democracy such as voting, communing, and contacting, it may also promote unconventional forms of participation such as demonstrations and protest (Brass, 2021, Nelson-Nunez, 2019; LeRoux & Krawczyk, 2014; Brass & O’Dell, 2012; Boulding, 2010). Furthermore, this scholarship suggests that the effect of civil society varies by type of participation, and in some instances may even reduce certain types of participation (Brass, 2021; Krawczyk 2021; Nelson-Nunez, 2019; Bouding, 2010).

Thus, under what conditions civil society impacts political participation, and how, remains contested. Our study addresses this issue, providing nuanced and innovative empirical evidence that sheds light on the conditions under which civil society impacts political participation. We use Liberia, West Africa as a country case study to investigate the impact of civil society on six different forms of political participation. We rely on a field experiment that uses a post-test only control group experimental design to measure the impact of direct contact by civil society organizations on citizen participation at both the national and local levels. The survey of 900 citizens in and around the capital of Liberia assesses the impact of civic education initiatives on citizens’ participation in the political system. Following the work of Hern (2019), our study examines the impact of civil society on six different forms of political participation: conventional forms of participation including voting, contacting a government official, contacting the media, joining with others to request government action, and unconventional forms of participation such as attending a demonstration/protest, and refusing to pay taxes/fees.

Our study is valuable to researchers, international donors, and aid workers, as it helps them understand under what conditions civil society impacts political participation, and allows them to better design programs that: 1) improve policy and practice around civil society’s role in strengthening citizen political participation, thereby 2) empowering citizens to utilize the political system to make demands of government in order to meet their needs, and the needs of their communities.

References

Boulding, C.E. 2010. NGOs and Political Participation in Weak Democracies: Subnational Evidence on Protest and Voter Turnout From Bolivia. Journal of Politics. 72(2): 456-468.
Brass, J.N. 2021. Do Service Provision NGOs Perform Civil Society Functions? Evidence of NGOs’ Relationship With Democratic Participation. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Online first: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0899764021991671
Brass, J.N. and M. O’Dell. 2012. NGOs, Civil Society, and Democratic Participation in Kenya. Workshop Paper for the 2012 MGAPE Meeting. Duke University. December 2012.


Hern, E. 2019. Developing States, Shaping Citizenship: Service Delivery and Political Participation in Zambia. University of Michigan Press.

Krawczyk, Kelly. 2021. “Strengthening Democracy and Increasing Political Participation in Liberia: Does Civil Society Density Matter?” Journal of Civil Society. Online first: DOI: 10.1080/17448689.2021.1923905.

LeRoux, K. and K. Krawczyk. 2014. Can Nonprofit Organizations Increase Voter Turnout? Findings From an Agency-Based Voter Mobilization Experiment. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 43(2): 272-292.

Nelson-Nunez, J. 2019. Substitution or Facilitation: Service-Delivery NGOs and Political Engagement in the Peruvian Amazon. Comparative Political Studies. 52(3); 445-477.

Authors

• Kelly Ann Krawczyk, Auburn University

• Peter C. Weber, Auburn University

• Felicia Tuggle, Auburn University

• Bridgett King, University of Kentucky

• Chambers Umezulike