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

该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，该研究调查了重叠的国家和宗教权威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，以及个人如何概念化自己作为民族国家公民的角色。分析是为了考虑政治沟通的过程，在这个过程中，个人开始理解他们与国家的关系。该研究测试了关于社会影响的假设，这里定义为背景影响，如宗教和社区对政治行为、态度和身份的影响。本研究调查了非西方背景下的环境影响，并考察了两个历史上曾被法国殖民占领的穆斯林占主导地位的国家的当地社会互动。案例的选择允许进行跨文化和跨区域比较，并将政治制度、种族和民族差异以及伊斯兰宗教习俗的差异纳入其中。塞内加尔提供了一个例子，虽然是民主国家，但在2000年首次通过选举的方式将权力移交给了反对派。虽然摩洛哥的君主立宪制已经实施了民主改革，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加强对发展中国家和民主化国家，特别是穆斯林占多数的国家的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.