1
FOREWARD
The present report outlines the findings of a survey on youth perceptions of Participatory Democracy, conducted in Tunisia by I WATCH Organization. This study is financed by PONTIS Foundation and SlovakAid. .
A study conducted by: Dhia Elhak Ammar I WATCH Member
Statistical Engineer, ‘High School of Statistics and Data Analysis Graduate ammar.dhia@gmail.com
In case of any discrepancy between the three versions (FR, EN and AR) of this report, the French version shall prevail. Raw and detailed data may be obtained from the organization upon request.
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INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 4 1.
Youth awareness of participatory democracy ................................................................................ 5
2.
Youth understanding of the participatory democracy ................................................................... 7
3.
Personal experiences....................................................................................................................... 9
4.
Youth opinions and views.............................................................................................................. 13
5.
Level of youth commitment to promoting participatory democracy: .......................................... 18
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 20 Annex ..................................................................................................................................................... 21 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 21
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INTRODUCTION
The revolution sparked off to enable the youth to fully exercise their natural right to participate in public life by enjoying the freedom of assembly, opinion and association, among other basic rights. The youth has used these rights to contribute in the country’s decision making process. This contribution was particularly reflected during the constitution drafting period. Civil society components, such as organizations and political parties, exerted pressure on the National Constituent Assembly to modify or adopt certain articles. Despite several notable successes following the investment of great efforts, the success potential is still limited. These experiences have further confirmed that Representative Democracy has many deficiencies as well, and might eventually not represent the citizens on some occasions. Such a shortcoming is likely to be the result of alienating citizens from contributing in the decision making process during the period between elections. Moreover, abstentions from voting and election regulations might limit the representativeness of the elected institutions. Consequently, there is a rising demand to further involve citizens and civil society in the decision making process and to enhance citizens’ participation on the local level as well as on the grassroots level. This can only be implied through consulting individuals regarding their own matters. The aim of this survey is to collect data about youth perceptions of the concept of Participatory Democracy and its foundations. It also aims to explore their personal experiences in terms of Participatory Democracy and the extent of their willingness to participate in that process or in demanding its full application on the ground.
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1. Youth awareness of participatory democracy The first part of the conducted survey mainly focused on the prominence of the participatory democracy in the eyes of the youth and their interest for politics. The growing distrust in politics should not be interpreted as a complete indifference towards public affairs. In fact, more than half of the young respondents (52%) said that they do have interest in politics; among these 9% declared that they are highly interested. In the meantime, many of the respondents (48%) indicated that they are not interested at all in politics.
Are you generally interested in politics? 9%
11%
Not at all Rather not
44%
36%
Rather yes Totally
Men revealed to be more interested in politics (59%) than women (47%) were. Despite the efforts invested by the various components of civil society in promoting participatory democracy since the revolution, the concept of "participatory democracy" remains unknown or unclear to most of the Tunisian youth. In fact, slightly more than half of the respondents (51%) have already heard of participatory democracy, but only 10% of these knows exactly what it means.
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Have you already heard of "participatory democracy" 2% No
41%
47%
Yes, I have a thorough understanding Yes, but I do not understand what it is RA
10%
Following the adoption of the new constitution and while political parties involved in the national dialogue were seeking to reach a consensus on the date of the elections, it must be noted that youth did not participate in this process. The indifference towards politics is clearly mirrored by the results: actually, a large part of the respondents (40%) revealed having no knowledge regarding the new constitution. However, 60% of them reported the opposite and only 6% of these indicated having a thorough knowledge about the new Tunisian constitution. The results were no different of those regarding youth's knowledge of the electoral law, as 2 respondents out of 3 (66%) said that they have no knowledge about this new law. On the other hand, 29% indicated that they have a vague knowledge of it and 5% said that they have a thorough knowledge of this law. An average of just 10% of the surveyed young people have an idea about the municipal budget and only 2% of them indicated that they have an in-depth idea of it.
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Do you have an idea about THE BUDGET OF YOUR REGION'S MUNICIPALITY
90%
THE ELECTORAL LAW
66%
THE TUNISIAN CONSTITUTION
No knowledge
8% 2%
40%
Slight knowledge
29%
54%
4%
6%
Thorough knowledge
2. Youth understanding of the participatory democracy 79% of the youth surveyed showed no interest in meetings and debates led by the local and regional authorities. Only 17% declared that they are interested in such meetings. On the other hand, many of the respondents (49%) consider participating in meetings with the deputies or the local authorities whenever possible. This percentage is likely to decrease. However, the same cannot be said about 41% of the respondents who revealed that they are not interested in the consultation meetings with the deputees and the local authorities.
Are you willing to take part in meetings and debates with NCA members representing your region? 9% Yes
49% 42%
No DK/RA
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What is a good decision? According to the respondents, a "good decision" made by their elected representatives should come after consulting experts (87%), or after discussing it with the concerned citizens (85%). 76% of the respondents think that a good decision is also a decision that is line with the view expressed by the majority. On the other hand, a little over half the respondents (51%) consider that a good decision is a decision that is in line with their thinking. 58% of the respondents are for laying the foundations of participatory democracy among citizens and officials; whereas 28% of them perceive it as a positive step yet do not consider it an immediate priority. However, only a minority (2%) of the respondents thinks that this process is neither important nor useful. In your opinion, is it, generally, necessary to lay the foundations of PD? 2%
8% Yes, it is a positive step
3%
Yes, but it is not a priority No, it is not important
28%
58%
Neither important nor useful DK/RA
Only 2% of the respondents think that participatory democracy and consulting the citizens is "a very bad process " or "a rather bad" process. However, 37% of them think that it is "a rather good process" while 52% think that it is a "very good process". 9% of the youth surveyed did not respond to this question.
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In general, do you think that PD is:
2%
9%
A very good process A rather positive process
52% 37%
A negative process DK
3. Personal experiences 14%of the respondents said that they knew that the municipality or special delegation in their region has already set forth participatory democracy initiatives, such as organizing debates or public meetings. On the other hand, the majority of the respondents (48%) insisted that the municipality in their region has not organized any such meetings. In addition, many of the surveyed youth replied that they cannot respond to the question since they d not know whether such initiatives were taken by their municipalities or not. Moreover, an average of 81% of the respondents denied having participated at least once in the consultation meetings organized by their municipality during the last year, and only 5% have taken part in it. Two thirds of the latter percentage (66%) judged their participation to be of no impact on the consultation process or on the final decision. The survey revealed more poor results: only 14 % of the surveyed population indicated being part of an association or a trade union (1% in a leading position, 6% as active members and7% as participants). Moreover, 85 % of the surveyed youth said that they are not part of any civil society organization, and only 11% of them mentioned that they support an association or a trade union.
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Level of dedication within the civil society organization/political party 84% 74%
1%
1%
OFFICIAL
7%
2%
ACTIVE MEMBER
6%
2%
11%
PARTICIPANT
Civil society organization
11%
SUPPORTER
NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY
Political party
As demonstrated above, the results are even poorer as for the youth involvement in political parties. In fact, only 5% of the respondents indicate that they are members of a political party: Just 3% of them are active members. Moreover, the vast majority of the respondents (95%) are not part of any political organization; only 11% of them are supporters, while the rest (84%) showed no interest at all to the political life. These findings confirm that the Tunisian youth has had enough of the party politics. The new generation is disappointed at the way politics are conducted in Tunisia after the revolution. Many of them are willing to contribute, yet growing weary of unfulfilled promises. Their perception of politics has been distorted. Three years after the revolution, the Tunisian youth has little faith in politics as well as in political institutions. Moreover, the relationship between the youth and senior members of political parties is further marked by a sentiment of distrust. As for voting intentions, 39% of the respondents intend to vote in the coming municipal elections, whereas 2% of these revealed that they will go to the polling stations only to cast a blank vote. However, 29% of the respondents have not yet decided whether they will cast their vote or not and 27% of them revealed that they intend to boycott the elections.
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Do you intend to vote in the next municipal elections?
30%
Yes
40%
Yes, a blank vote No DK
28% 2%
More generally, based on these findings we can see that age influences voting intentions: the older a person is, the more likely he/she will vote. As shown in the graphic below, youth voting intention is only of 35% among those aged between 18-24, whereas it reaches 42%for those aged between 25-30 and 45% for the 31-35 category.
Voting intentions by age group POP [31 -35 YEARS OLD]
45%
POP [25 -30 YEARS OLD]
POP [18 -24 YEARS OLD]
1%
42%
35%
Yes
22%
26%
1% 2%
Yes, a blank vote
30%
No
29%
27%
31%
DK
It is also noted that the intention to boycott the ballot is more apparent among the youth in Sousse than it is in other regions.
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Voting intentions by Region SOUSSE SFAX
34% 30%
43%
2%
MEDENINE
44% 0%
50%
1%
34%
5%
Yes
18%
24%
54%
GAFSA EL KEF
2%
22%
21%
21%
23%
26%
Yes, a blank vote
34%
No
DK
What about youth participation in political demonstrations and events? Besides voting and contributing to the social and political life, the youth, however, resorts to other ways of engaging in their communities. In fact, strikes, signing petitions and sit-ins are recognized as common ways of expressing the youth's opinion. According to this survey, 31% of the respondents said that they have already yook part in a sit-in or a strike during the last year. However, only 15% of the respondents stated that they have signeda petition, and 13% of them have participated in political meetings and 10% participated in local meetings in the last 12 months. During the same period, 63% of the respondents have watched NCA debates on TV and 39% have used social networks to express their political opinions.
During the last year, have you: EXPRESSED YOUR OPINION VIA SOCIAL NETWORKS
39%
PARTICIPATED IN A POLITICAL MEETING
59% 86%
13% 36%
WATCHED NCA DEBATES ON TV TAKEN PART IN A SIT-IN OR A STRIKE
63% 67%
31%
SIGNED A PETITION
84%
15%
PARTICIPATED IN A LOCAL MEETING
89%
10% 0%
25% No
50%
75%
100%
Yes
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Based on these findings, it is concluded that youth do not consider political parties as the only way to express their civic commitment, since political commitment is particularly expressed through other non-established forms, rather than through associations, political parties or trade unions.
4. Youth opinions and views: We interviewed young participants in the survey regarding the expected effects of participatory democracy, and their responses were mainly positive. In fact, 85% of the respondents think that participatory democracy leads to committing citizens to the local life and 83% of the respondents think that it ensures that their voices are heard by their elected representatives before making decisions. Moreover, participatory democracy increases citizens' commitment to decisions already made according to 82% of the respondents, enhances the transparency of decisions made according to 76% and further improves public decisions' effectiveness in the opinion of 76% of the respondents. In addition, a large rate of the respondents (80%) sees participatory democracy as a tool to monitor the work of the elected bodies. A little less than two thirds of the respondents (64%) thinks that consultation enhances citizens' patriotism and drives them to willingly pay their taxes. Not as many of the respondents think that participatory democracy have people believe that their opinions are being heard, yet the decisions are eventually made without taking them into account. Actually, 44% of the respondents are for this statement, whereas 42% are against it. On the other hand, 54% of the surveyed youth considered that these participatory democracy initiatives are likely to slow down the process of political decision making.
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In your opinion, today, PD can result in: ENHANCES CITIZENS' PATRIOTISM AND MOTIVATES THEM TO PAY THEIR… 5% 9% SLOWS DOWN THE POLITICAL DECISION MAKING PROCESS
6%
32% 21%
33% 35%
21% 19%
18%
ALLOW CITIZENS TO MONITOR THE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES 2% 7%
30%
50%
10%
FURTHER IMPROVES PUBLIC DECISIONS' EFFECTIVENESS 2% 6%
32%
49%
11%
ENHANCES THE TRANSPARENCY OF DECISIONS MADE 2% 9% HAVE PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT THEIR OPINIONS ARE BEING HEARD, YET NOT …
31%
15%
27%
INCREASES CITIZENS' COMMITMENT TO DECISIONS ALREADY MADE 2% 6%
Totally disagree
Rather disagree
25% 48%
35%
53% Totally agree
14% 10%
47%
31%
Rather agree
13% 19%
34%
4% 4% INVOLVE CITIZENS IN THE LOCAL LIFE 2% 3%
45%
9% 10%
DK
The respondents are far from tarring all the politicians with the same brush. Despite their lack of confidence in their political representatives, the youth repulsion towards politicians is, yet, relative. In general, although members of the Cabinet are neither elected nor appointed by NCA members, they are somewhat better off in terms of youth's rejection compared to other politicians. That is, 49% of the respondents judged the current government to be honest (opposed to 45%). NCA is the only political institution directly elected by the people ("universal direct suffrage") following the revolution. As such, it would be interesting to look into the level of trust youth have in this institution. In an attempt to measure this level, it is noted that youth harshly judge their regional representatives at the NCA. In fact, only 33% of the young people surveyed trust their representatives. This result proves to be slightly better compared to the level of trust in Special Delegations ( 27% ). The level of youth confidence in political institutions is, therefore, very low. Nevertheless, if we look into the results separately obtained by each institution, the level of distrust is rather less serious. Accordingly, 41% of the young people surveyed stated that they do trust the President. (whereas 54% don't).
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Do you totally, rather, rather not, or have no trust in each of these representatives' ability to make good decisions? MINISTERS
19%
PRESIDENT
28%
NCA REGIONAL MEMBERS
43%
26%
23%
SPECIAL DELEGATION
No trust
27%
33%
32%
21%
8%
31%
32%
Rather trust them
5% 5%
24%
Rather trust them
6%
3% 10%
3%
Totally trust them
20%
DK/RA
If we analyse these results according to area of residence, this sentiment towards the President is more apparent in rural areas, as roughly half of the respondents (48%) said they trust him.
Youth level of trust in the President by area of residence. 38%
I TRUST THEM
48% 56%
I DO NOT TRUST THEM
48% 0%
10%
20% Urban
30%
40%
50%
60%
Rural
If we have a more in-depth look at the results, we would notice that those who have chosen to boycott the ballot in the next municipal elections are the ones who are the most distrustful of political institutions.
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Q15a Do you totally, rather, rather not, or have no trust in Special Delegation?
Q15b Do you totally, rather, rather not, or have no trust in NCA members representing your region? I do not trust I trust DK/RA them them
I do not trust them
I trust them
Yes
42%
37%
21%
Yes
48%
42%
10%
Cast a blank vote
73%
27%
0%
Cast a blank vote
64%
36%
0%
No
61%
23%
16%
No
68%
24%
7%
DK
57%
17%
26%
DK
54%
30%
17%
RA
47%
40%
13%
RA
53%
33%
13%
DK/RA
Q15c Do you totally, rather, rather not, or have no trust in the President?
Q15d Do you totally, rather, rather not, or have no trust in the ministers? I do not trust I trust DK/RA them them Yes 37% 59% 4%
I do not trust him 50%
I trust him 46%
Cast a blank vote
55%
45%
0%
Cast a blank vote
82%
18%
No
66%
32%
2%
No
52%
44%
4%
DK
47%
42%
11%
DK
49%
41%
10%
RA
53%
40%
7%
RA
40%
53%
7%
Yes
DK/RA 4%
0%
These findings suggest that youth distrust of state institutions and politicians leads them to boycott the elections. Generally, two main factors have had a negative impact on the role of Tunisian political institutions. The first one is the protracted transitional period, and the second factor is the impacts of the economic and political crisis. Regarding the question about the right to participate in consultations, 30% of the respondents think that only people with a good educational level have the exclusive right to participate in the consultation meetings. Slightly less respondents (29%) believe that the exclusive participation right should be given to the youth. Furthermore, a tiny minority of the respondents (no more than 6%) stated that they are against the participation of women in consultation meetings. When asked about the topics that "they would like to discuss with politicial officials", 51% of the young people surveyed, who were asked to respond spontaneously (without referring to a selection list), cited "employment and fighting unemployment". This can be easily explained by the high unemployment rate. Unemployment has always been a major challenge facing the youth. It is, therefore, no surprise that it is cited as a top priority especially during the current economic downturn.
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30% of the respondents mentioned regional development that ranked as the second topic to be discussed with NCA regionally elected members. Security and the fight against terrorism came third on the list of the most important topics to be discussed with political officials (16%). The same percentage of the respondents (16%) stated that they prefer to address the matter of price control and poverty alleviation. As far as 15% of the respondents is concerned, education should be a top priority subject, and 14% of them cited environment and pollution control as a priority. At the bottom of the list, 9% of the respondents cited health (quality, improving access to healthcare). Further down the list, transparency and fighting against corruption were mentioned by 8% of the respondents, social situation was mentioned by 6% and 4% of the respondents cited better public transport as their priority topic.
What are the topics you would like to discuss with political officials?
51%
30% 22% 16%
16%
15%
14%
9%
8%
6%
4%
On the other hand, 19% of the young people surveyed think that the unemployed should have the exclusive right to participate in the consultations. Whereas 21% of them indicated that only members of civil society organizations and members of trade unions are entitled t the right of taking part in consultations. 11% of the respondents think that this advantage (the exclusive right to participate in consultations) should be given to members of political parties.
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In your opinion, the exclusive right to participate in the consultations should be given to: PEOPLE WITH A GOOD EDUCATIONAL LEVEL UNEMPLOYED YOUTH POLITICAL PARTIES
34%
33%
38%
Totally disagree
Rather disagree
40%
32%
39%
52%
Rather agree
6%
22%
47%
37%
5%
13%
36%
MEN MEMBERS OF ASSOCIATIONS, ORGANIZATIONS AND TRADE UNIONS
25%
7% 11% 1%
39% 39%
5% 1% 2%
19%
Totally agree
5. Level of youth commitment to promoting participatory democracy:
We have studied the willingness of the general public to commit itself to promoting participatory democracy. Almost 7 respondents out of 10 (67%) stated that they are likely to personally commit themselves to promoting this cause. This collective motivation is an asset that must be exploited particularly by civil society organizations. Involvement in the civil society is the promotional model of participatory democracy that youth prefer the least . In fact, only 50% of the young people surveyed reported their willingness to join an association to promote this cause. However, 60% of the respondents said that they would do so by signing petitions and 62% by using social networks.
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Are you willing to 62%
60% 50% 37% 32%
28% 13%
8% SIGN A PETITION
10%
JOIN AN NGO TO PROMOTE PD IN POMOTE PD ON SOCIAL NETWORKS YOUR REGION Yes
No
DK
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Conclusion
The present study is an attempt to highlight the opinion of the youth regarding a crucial topic that directly affects this section of the population. The survey results have further confirmed the sense of estrangement marking the relation between young people and State institutions, despite the fact that these latter are elected institutions. This can only assert that Representative Democracy alone cannot voice the people’s opinion. The lack of trust that the youth is demonstrating towards the elected institutions, as well its insisting on boycotting political parties indicate that young people are rejecting the overall political system and is willing to bring changes to it. We, therefore, conclude that Tunisian youth is in the midst of a dilemma. The main actor behind this dilemma is the youth itself; since it is torn between rejecting the current political system while expressing its anger towards it and, on the other hand, refuses to take part in the political process and chooses to alienate itself from it. The present survey was undertaken to evaluate young people’s opinions and their readiness to take part in the public life. It is a starting point of a whole project, established by the organization, aiming to enshrine the principles of Participatory Democracy among the youth and urge them to invest more efforts and further contribute to the decision making process on the local level. As in all such scientific studies, this work is far from being perfect. Yet, it was conducted following a clear and strict scientific methodology.
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Annex Methodology To ensure the representativeness of the sample, we used the method of gender quotas after stratisfying results by region and area (urban, rural). The survey was conducted in 5 governorates: Gafsa, Sfax, Sousse, Kef and medenine. The selection method of individuals was carried out in four phases: First Phase: Dividing the sample between the targeted governorates on the basis of probability proportional to size (PPS): The representative sample was divided between the targeted governorates (Gafsa, Sfax, Sousse, Kef and Médenine) in both areas (rural and urban) proportionally to the targeted population's size (young people aged between 18 and 35 years old in these governorates).
Governorate
El Kef Sousse Sfax Médenine Gafsa Total
Geographic distribution of the sample Pop [18 35 Urban Rural % Total years old] 229,96 51% 49% 12% 317,99 81% 19% 16% 376,15 65% 35% 44% 273,05 79% 21% 14% 271,42 74% 26% 14% 1468,57 65% 35% 100%
% sample 72 96 264 84 84 600
Urban2 Rural3 37 78 172 66 62 390
35 18 92 18 22 210
Second Phase: Selecting delegations in each governorate using, once again, PPS method while taking into account the area criterion. Third Phase: Choosing the targeted communities, based on the list of rural/urban areas.
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Fourth Phase: Undertaking a systematic survey (by randomly choosing the first household and choosing the other households following exactly the same pattern), then selecting the targeted individual in each household based on Kish method1. Sample size: The aim is to form a sample in order to generalize the observations to the overall population. There are three main factors to determine the sample size of a population survey:
The estimated prevalence of the study variable. The targeted level of reliance The acceptable margin of error
Regarding survey models that are based on simple random sample selection, the required sample size is calculates according to this formula: n=
t² x p(1-p) m²
n = required sample size t = level of reliance of 95% (a typical value of 1,96) p = estimated prevalence of risk factors in the targeted population. (p= 0.5) m = error margin of 4% n=600
with an error margin of +- 4%
The size of this sample is divided between observation sites according to their demographic weight. The data collection method was conducted through a paper-based questionnaire directly filled by the interviewees. The answers were therefore collected directly from the targeted population at home.
1
Kish grid is a random selection method of an individual among other eligible individuals of a household belonging to a sample of a household survey. The selected individual or "the Kish" is the person interviewed or the person subject to data collection. [ Wikipedia] (FR)
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