Chapter Two
Literature Review
2.1 Concept of Political Participation
Arriving
at a consensus on the true meaning of political participation has remained
unattainable as new conventions are being added to the subject matter on seasonal
bases. Scholars have however attempted to conceptualize the meaning of
political participation in different ways as reviewed in this chapter.
In literal terms, political participation is the
involvement of every member, organization and groups in a nation in the entire
political process. Political participation is the process through which the
individual plays a role in the political life of his society and has the
opportunity to take part in deciding what common goals of the society are and
the best way of achieving these goals (Adelekan, 2010). The individual is
central in this system and can exist as a sole entity or part of a group. The
political setup is not complete with the leaders in governance but the people
which are core aspect of the society in any political system especially
democracy. The leaders does not decide what the people wants, it is the people
that decide what they need at any given point in time. Thus, the people do not
only decide the national values but decides who should govern them. Akamare
(2003) clearly defined political participation is an aspect of political
behavior and it focuses on the way in which individuals take part in politics.
It is a voluntary activity and one may participate directly or indirectly. It
is central to note that political participation is not by compulsion. Forcing
someone to participate in an electoral process for instance is tantamount to
breach of the electoral act. The individual as a free moral agent is at liberty
to participate based on his or her choice. More so, he or she can determine the
degree of participation, directly or indirectly; it is thus common to see
people turn out for voter registration and refuse to turn up for voting.
In another perspective, Awolowo and Aluko (2010)
stressed that, the essence of political participation in any society, either
civilized or primitive, is to seek control of power, acquisition of power and
to influence decision making. Political participation is a means of
contributing ones quota to the political system and overall development of the
nation. In Awolowo and Aluko’s perspective, political participation is viewed
from the point of view of wanting to lead or govern the people. The perspective
and scope of political participation is wide and can be viewed from two ends;
the desire of the individual to select who governs them and the desire of other
individuals to govern the people. In the later, the focus is to seek control of
power which may be bent on some social, political, economic, personal or
ideological motives and in a way, influence decision making. Approaching
political participation from the standpoint of the group, Awoleso (2014)
defines political participation as ‘voluntary activities shared by members of a
society in the selection of their rulers and directly or indirectly involves in
the formation of public policies’. The individual in this light is seen as a
member of the society, the bigger conglomerate of individuals who will at the
end of the day be governed by their rulers. Political participation involves the citizens
taking part in their political system thereby contributing their quota in the
political system and the overall development of the nation. To further buttress
this point, Falade (2014) describes political participation as an aspect of political
behavior which focuses on the way individuals take part in politics. It
encompasses a wide range of political activities such as voting, contesting
elective post, belonging to a political party, holding public office, attending
political rallies, and meetings and so on