community meeting4, or, less significantly, joining other to raise an issue. However, caution
must be exercised in attending meetings, since it is probable that the Non-elite group will
have a high percentage of rural residents, and attendance at meetings in the rural areas is not
always voluntary, and voluntary attendance would be the marker for agency.
Figure 3: Political Participation, Elite versus Non-elite [%]
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
67
49
49
34 32
23
12
24
10
5
Non-elite
Elite
Again, Non-elites expressed significantly greater frequency of participating in political
activities than Elites (Table 1 & Figure 3). Apart from the greater frequency amongst Elites to
discuss politics,5 Non-elites voted 6and attended campaign rallies7 significantly more
frequently, as well as being more likely to work for a candidate or party8.
Activism was defined as engaging public officials and agents, and again Non-elites were
more likely to do so than Elites (Figure 4 over). This was the case for every types of contact
bar contacting government officials, where Elites reported a slightly greater frequency.
Obviously contacting traditional leaders would be more likely for rural residents, and this
overall finding on activism is an artefact of the greater proportion of rural residents in the
Non-elite group.9
4
χ² = 40.03; p=0.0001
χ² = 16.07; p=0.001
6
χ² = 21.16; p=0.001
7
χ² = 39.1; p=0.001
8
χ² = 11.19; p=0.001
9
However, it should also be noted that this high rate of contacting traditional leaders does not imply much more
than this as it is also the case that only 28% of rural respondents in 2017 “trust” traditional leaders.
5
10