When does education increase political participation? Evidence from Senegal

Horacio Larreguy () and Shelley X. Liu ()
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Horacio Larreguy: IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse
Shelley X. Liu: Unknown

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Abstract: We argue that education's effect on political participation in developing democracies depends on the strength of democratic institutions. Education increases awareness of, and interest in, politics, which help citizens to prevent democratic erosion through increased political participation. We examine Senegal, a stable but developing democracy where presidential over-reach threatened to weaken democracy. For causal identification, we use a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits variation in the intensity of a major school reform and citizens' ages during reform implementation. Results indicate that schooling increases interest in politics and greater support for democratic institutions—but no increased political participation in the aggregate. Education increases political participation primarily when democracy is threatened, when support for democratic institutions among educated individuals is also greater.

Date: 2024-04
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04922894v1
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Published in Political Science Research and Methods, 2024, Vol. 12 (N° 2), pp.354 - 371. ⟨10.1017/psrm.2023.37⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04922894

DOI: 10.1017/psrm.2023.37

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