Democratic citizens in non-democratic nations: Civic participation and associational life in the West Bank.

Abstract

Recent studies about civil society find that associational life produces more active and engaged citizens. Active civic participation and engagement are necessary for the flourishing and sustenance of competent, responsive and effective democratic institutions. The notion that associational membership can enhance levels of civic engagement in ways that are useful for democratization is often assumed in cross-national studies about civil society. Little attention has been given to the fact that most of the research that links associational life to broader and more effective forms of civic engagement relies on evidence from democratic states. What is to be said then about the role of associations in enhancing levels of civic engagement in non-democratic settings, where existing political institutions do not support the types of civic participation associated with more effective democracy? Based on over 1,200 surveys of the general Palestinian population, over 70 open-ended interviews with Palestinian associational leaders and 422 surveys of Palestinian associational members, this dissertation examines the relationship between associational life and levels of civic engagement, social trust and support for democratic institutions among the Palestinian citizenry. I find that although participation in associations has enlivened civic engagement, the relationship between the main dimensions of civic engagement, social trust, and support for democratic institutions, are different from the anticipated returns of associational life in democracies. In the absence of viable democratic institutions, the same patterns of civic engagement that pave the path to more effective democratic institutions in democratic settings, can possibly generate attitudes and behavior in non-democratic settings that either reinforce the prevailing political status-quo or distance citizens from the regime in power. Furthermore, where associational life is constrained by centralized governing institutions, clientelistic ties, and local corruption, civic associations depending on their relationships to their immediate political surroundings influence and reinforce patterns of civic engagement that reflect an association's political access to the regime in power. Thus, in some cases associational life may produce some dimensions of civic engagement important for democratic citizenship, as support for democratic institutions, but it also may produce other dimensions of engagement, important for authoritarian rule, as support for the ruling government in power.