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

这一博士论文研究支持项目是对西非和北非公共领域以及塑造公共和政治领域的背景力量的比较研究。特别是，这项研究调查了国家和宗教权威重叠领域之间的紧张关系，以及这对民主政治和改革意味着什么。为此，该项目询问塞内加尔和摩洛哥的个人如何形成对国家的政治态度，以及个人如何将自己作为民族国家公民的角色概念化。分析是为了考虑到政治沟通的过程，在这个过程中，个人开始了解他们与国家的关系。这项研究检验了关于社会影响的假设，这里的社会影响被定义为背景影响，如宗教和邻里关系对政治行为、态度和身份的影响。这项研究调查了非西方环境中的语境效应，并考察了两个有法国殖民占领历史的以穆斯林为主的国家的当地社会互动。案例的选择允许跨文化和跨区域的比较，并嵌入了政治制度、种族和民族差异以及伊斯兰宗教习俗的差异。塞内加尔提供了这样一个案例：虽然民主，但权力在2000年第一次通过选举手段移交给反对派。虽然摩洛哥的君主立宪制实行了民主改革，但尚未发生过渡。从塞内加尔和摩洛哥的研究中获得的见解将在更普遍的发展中国家和民主化国家，特别是穆斯林占多数的国家，加强对公民身份和政治态度形成的理解。

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.