Social Sciences and Humanities Open (Jan 2024)
Interplay between civic engagement, political trust, and support for democracy: Insights from a study on youth students at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Abstract
Research on youth engagement in civic activities and its influence on political trust and support for democracy in developing countries, particularly Ethiopia, is limited. This study aims to address this gap by examining the relationship between civic engagement, political trust, and support for democracy among students at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. The findings indicate that both offline and online political engagement positively influenced students' political trust, with offline engagement increasing trust by 9% and online engagement by 2%. In contrast, offline political engagement, online political engagement, and volunteerism negatively correlated with students' support for democracy, decreasing it by 4%, 2%, and 7%, respectively. Engagement in voluntary work, voting, and community problem-solving activities showed no relationship with political trust.Furthermore, voting and participation in community problem-solving activities had no relationship with support for democracy. The study concludes that different types of civic engagement exert varying influences on political trust and support for democracy. Future research should explore latent forms of civic engagement using pre- and post-tests and longitudinal designs, and include youth not enrolled in public universities.
