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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Briefing: Islam, democracy and public opinion in Africa
Author:Bratton, MichaelISNI
Year:2003
Periodical:African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:102
Issue:408
Period:July
Pages:493-501
Language:English
Geographic terms:Mali
Nigeria
Uganda
Tanzania
Africa
Subjects:Islam
public opinion
democracy
Politics and Government
Religion and Witchcraft
politics
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3518748
Abstract:How do religious orientations, especially attachments to Islam, affect public support for democracy in sub-Saharan Africa? Data are available from the Afrobarometer - a crossnational survey research project, Round 1 of which was conducted between mid-1999 and mid-2001. It measured religious identifications and attitudes to democracy in four countries in East and West Africa: Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Across the four countries, the survey population (n = 10,159) was almost evenly divided between Muslims and non-Muslims. The results indicate that although adherents of Islam in Africa occasionally display distinctive political attitudes, they do not differ much from non-Muslims on the subject of democracy and their differences with others do not always run in an anti-democratic direction. Moreover, any hesitancy about supporting democracy among the African Muslims interviewed is due more to deficits of formal education and other attributes of modernization than to the influence of religious attachments. Nevertheless, political tolerance is somewhat lower among Muslims than Christians and political participation lags behind among followers of Islam. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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