#ToVoteOrNotToVote : How Political Efficacy Impacts Attitudes Towards Political Participation Among University Students in South Africa

Sammanfattning

There is a theory in research today, that low trust in the government is causing so-called politicalapathy among younger voters, leading to the sharp decline in voter turnout visible in theirdemographic. However, at the same time we see an increase in youth engagement in protestsand demonstrations, e.g. in Serbia, Nepal, Kenya, or South Africa. This presents a politicalcontradiction relating to Gen Z, as they cannot both be apathetic to politics whilst increasingtheir engagement in political protests and similar. This contradiction is the motivation for mythesis, to shed more light on how political trust (political efficacy) shape attitudes towardspolitical participation among Gen Z. I examine this through conducting semi-structuredinterviews with university students in South Africa, aiming to uncover how they view theirpolitical efficacy, their attitudes towards participation, and how these two concepts relate toeach other. My results show that the university students have low trust in the government – andhigh trust in themselves – to be able to make a difference on social and political issues, whilstalso considering voting as the most important form of political participation. In conclusion, thismeans that to fully understand the development in political participation happening within GenZ, we must examine the two parts of political efficacy (external and internal) and their combinedimpact on attitudes towards participation.