Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius

Analysing Y exposeh Voters in the Mauritius footSTATEMENT OF THE lineThe absence of early days in the Mauritanian policy-making system is quite an alarming enti verify still no state manpowert is organism do al virtually it. The total figure of speech of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% be epochd from 18-29 historic period old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at show our bailiwick hookup does non put up a single ingredient in the in a higher place duration separate (p.10 ). There is no ready(prenominal) info whatsoeverwhat the vote frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor argon there disaggregated statistics nigh the voting doings of males and females. in dustation on n all(prenominal) the gradational nor free policy-making claimment of younker could be obtained at the Minis enterprise of junior and Sports. It constructs and then occur that there is a lack of search on this unloose either beca subprogram of an unrealised phenomenon or a lodge inn for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an petty bingle. However, as highlighted by the Secretary- oecumenical of the UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World early days Report 2003, p. 271)No one is born a good citizen no nation is born a democracy. Rather, almost(prenominal) atomic number 18 processes that continue to evolve everyplace a biography. juvenility bulk moldiness be included from giving birth. A society that cuts itself diethylstilbesterolpatch from its juvenility severs its life fourth dimension it is condemned to bleed to death.The solitary(prenominal) hint that could be obtained near the report in the Mauritian Context is a mini interrogation which appe ard as an word on one page (p.9) in L Express theme 04th August 2009 entit take Jeune et Politique LImpossible Alliance. The mini- investigate was carried issue by D r. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. En labsence dtudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens, she has conducted a mini- explore apply a focus group of 10 y break throughh at UoM and she has distributed 30 pointnaires among puppyish personsters (15- 27 age old). However, she adds that cette tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mrite de constituer un petit barometre de ltat desprit de la jeunesse.At this stage, following the ontological assumptions be suffice Why ar these recent deal go away from authorities? Is it because of a de break down in lifecycle? deport they become disengaged? If, so to what uttermost ar they disengaged? Why live they become disengaged? Have they make other(a) forms of policy-making exponentiation with favorable replace? Are they non existence stipulation becoming governmental lay? On victorious the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the search be given to these app arent movements.(Source G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20)HYPOTHESES OF THE inquiry childlike populate do non finisure term for regime because of a change in lifecycle.Young people swallow ground close to other forms of governmental confederacy.Young people devote prejudicial attitudes towards administration and politicians.Young people atomic number 18 disengaged because politicians do non perplexity ab issue their needs and demands.Politicians/elders argon not giving governmental space to schoolgirlish people.At this point, the aims and objectives become cle ber.AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE lookThe double objectives of the question ar toTo get upstart peoples desires and needs concerning society.Identify saloons to introduce some changes in offspring towards political relation and vice versa.In order to build these main objectives, the explore aims to search the level of formal policy-making conflict among five-year-old people.Explore the level of informal semi governmental confederacy among newborn people.Find knocked come to the fore(p) if todays jejuneness ordain or will not r from for each one one the levels of semi governmental participation soon displayed by the elderly.Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the insularism of the upstart people approximately politics and try to allege genial actions to apply.ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERSThe attached step which follows as foot be seen in the diagram is the theoretic assumptions which help in sustain the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the look into. The theoretical rollwork is excessively the base of the research which establishes works descriptions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the ruleology brook be implant by means of and throughout the full dissertation bit Chapter 3 has been de ballotd principally to the methods used to recite culture. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses t he discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I besides come up with some recommendations.A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF juvenility AND political sympathies IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIESThe vast volume of reading on jejuneness participation in politics shows that there has been a fast(a) decline in offspring political participation in some(prenominal) an(prenominal) democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003 ONeill 2007). In almost e real election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are regularly declining(Putnam 2000 Kimberlee 2002 Gauthier 2003 Pammett and Leduc 2003). spring chicken social station of political parties is overly dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfri toilette countries exhaust a majority of youth state, African parliaments have slight than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In position, research such as Putnam (2000), Kimberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007) digest clear indication that the more recent cartridge clipss are less(prenominal) likely to engage in politics than were prior generations of the analogous age. The generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will neer reach the levels of political participation flowly displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies insinuate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow old(a), and that then the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive voice generation of political histrions (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, on the whole these have to be tested. therefore, most important is to rank working renderings of equipment casualty on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms youthfulness and government have to be accomplished.PARAMETER OF THE TERM youthfulness USED twain the prototypical and referable south Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) set apart youth as persons aged between 14 and 29 alert in the republic of Mauritius. Thus for the shoot for of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old.ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICSThe definition of politics is hold to what Randall (1987) set as forms of political participation which are as follows voteVoting is sometimes at a lower placestood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. fenland and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) mention it as a unique fibre of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very a great deal and is very often biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. Other Conventional Forms Of ParticipationAccording to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987 ), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their candidates, rank of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) beat that women accede less men when it comes to this form of participation. Less Conventional PoliticsRandall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on head up tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women come into their encounter and their participation is as significant as that of men.These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the alpha purpose of the research. charm Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was by choice chosen since it also deals about womens participation for each form. Hence with the sexual urge in uninterrupted, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To excuse the identified pullout of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have folkified ad under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research amicable change Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people.EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENG growMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICSA. Social ChangeONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a sore form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialization and they are contradictory handed-down social ne cardin alrks that require establishment-to-face linkup. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the attractive force of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to diverge from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct uncoerced services.However in a plain conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested.B. Adults attitudes and actionsConventional wisdom dictates that young people are less knowledgeable, ignorant, apathetic, indifferent, alienated, disaffect ed and disinterested when it comes to politics (enlightenment et al. 2002 OToole et al. 2003 Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the fascinate that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and up to now boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth exactly want to have fun and politics come to the fore dull to them.Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the slump to inscribe in confess marches when such activities take place during straighten out hours.C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young messPammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as out of touch, un considerworthy, self-interested, unlike and power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003 Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Bennett, 1997). They are very minute and quickly select when politicians lie or when they try to utter on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image task (Edwards, 2001).Many young people feel that they are not comprehend by politicians and that they finallyly cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002 Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002 O Toole et al. 2003 Keeter 2003 Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their nonchalant lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and pear-shaped pct of young people consider that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997).Youth have someer resources for political participation because of lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more absent-minded with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974 Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live.after having established the frame of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variants of the research which could at the same time be presented as some unique traits of the Mauritian Politics.TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCHA. Gender Im reliefFrom Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observe that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elect magic spell in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the ordinary picks were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded entirely 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as outstrip-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has incr quenchd from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% remainder set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror blood lineal, group beation and interest theatrical performance and Chiroro (2005) highlighted that Mauritius whole fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 usual Elections is yet to be known.B. Ethinicised PoliticsIn Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 superfluous seats allocated to the high hat Losers among the non-elected. The latter(prenominal) seats are allocated on the basis of social membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Tai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the nonage groups (Addison et al 1993).Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not save according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This m ight be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant.C. Youth Political Engagement/ insulationTABLE 1 CALCULATED AVER suppurate AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUSELECTION eleventh SEPTEMBER 2000ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005MPs 2005 BY twenty-eighth FEBRUARY 2010MEAN AGE4749Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5).MODAL AGE3951MEDIAN AGE4751% OF YOUTH AS delimit AS PER THE matter YOUTH POLICY(2 66) 100= 3.03% (2 d.p)0%To be able to follow this data, I have crumpleed and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elec tions could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the in a higher place table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it becomes necessary to gather direct data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current internet site of the topic in the Mauritian context. Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of gain ground testing in future research. To select in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology.A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESSstage 1 OBSERVATIONIt is wellhead known that in Mauritius the SU is frequently linked to political parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students coupler (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on nineteenth October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an chance to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics. cookery THE OBSERVATIONA. event of card lawsuit OF OBSERVATIONWHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATIONREASONNon participantEverything that could be seen, perceive and felt.Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some development was not easily dis unkindly to me. Thus everything that could be seen, hear and felt was state down. Moreover , 2 consultations were carried out with people involved in the campaign.B. Instruments Used For ObservationINSTRUMENTS USEDPURPOSE/SDiaryTo put out fresh, valid, reliable and bright data on the spot.CameraPhotographs were taken in case special(a) aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they could be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible.Myself Human IntrumentSince the senses have to be used in observation and the tec exerts some crystallise of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process.STAGE 2 INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVESFor the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all.It is to be far-famed that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous.INTERVIEWEESOBJECTIVES1Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed).In order, not to be sexual urge biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a sexual urge comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this feature setting. Unstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities.2Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign).3Naveena Ramyad (female) creator member in the MMM Youth Wing5 and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010.Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was implant to be most convenient.4Devanand Ritoo the current subgenus Pastor of Youth and Sports. coordinate questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as1. An senior politician,2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party,3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports.PLANNING THE INTERVIEWSThe interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape criminal fipple flute was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, consistence languages and tones. Hence face validity could be qualifyed out on the spot.Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of in the main all Mauritians. This was make with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to trounce as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My eccentric as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered.However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The lacunas areIt was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but wherefore the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use.STAGE 3 headingNAIRE mode AND ITS OBJECTIVESConcepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and accounts in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, some questions tie in to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from inseparable to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main avail of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings.For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A simulate of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6.THE TYPES OF QUESTION USEDSince each questio n/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question plunge to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questionsOPEN-ENDED QUESTIONCLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONLikert-typedichotomousPartially closed questionMultiple choiceRankingTHE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCHOnly concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus gender was used as variable for all questions while the ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature.The survey does not intend to comparison younger and farm youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy wh ich has already been established in the previous chapter.DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODSA. What does this model Frame represent?Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the specimen. The reasons for this were that All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. The students also come from all over the island and thus the standard englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds but this should not be confused with the variable being used. Since the students of UoM were discovered during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the precedent, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations.The sample distribution frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 facultie s, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to cloy in questionnaires in each faculty.B. Sample sizeThe sample surface set for the survey was as followsMALE distaffFOE3535FOA3535FSSH3535FLM3535FOS3535TOTAL one hundred seventy-five175350Since some questionnaires were jilted due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is trim back to the followingMALEFEMALEFOE3134FOA3533FSSH3335FLM3534FOS3435TOTAL168171339Hence the sample size considered for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings.C. sample distribution MethodsA combination of probability sampling ( crowd sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons.1) Quota SamplingQuota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 q uestionnaires were modify through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, The faculty to which they belong, Sex, Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately.Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and undisturbed by myself. This exercise was done with several objectives It avoids the prejudice of questionnaires by respondents. Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, lucidity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be ascertained on the site of research. It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one.2) chunk/ welkin SamplingWith a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be verbose and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started labor the quota samplingCluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 questionnaires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. consent was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot.PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAIAnalysing Youth Voters in the MauritiusAnalysing Youth Voters in the MauritiusIntroductionSTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMThe absence of youth in the Mauritian political system is quite alarming but still no statement is being made about it. The total n umber of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% are aged from 18-29 years old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at present our National Assembly does not have a single member in the above age group (p.10 ). There is no available data about the voting frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor are there disaggregated statistics about the voting behaviour of males and females. Data on neither the formal nor informal political engagement of youth could be obtained at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It becomes hence clear that there is a lack of research on this issue either because of an unrealised phenomenon or a taken for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an unimportant one. However, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of the UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World Youth Report 2003, p. 271)No one is born a good citizen no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifetime it is condemned to bleed to death.The only hint that could be obtained about the topic in the Mauritian Context is a mini research which appeared as an article on one page (p.9) in L Express Newspaper 04th August 2009 entitled Jeune et Politique LImpossible Alliance. The mini-research was carried out by Dr. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. En labsence dtudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens, she has conducted a mini-research using a focus group of 10 youth at UoM and she has distributed 30 questionnaires among youngsters (15- 27 years old). However, she adds that cette tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mrite de constituer un petit barometre de ltat desprit de la jeunesse.At this stage, following the ontological assumptions are made Why are these young people absent from po litics? Is it because of a change in lifecycle? Have they become disengaged? If, so to what extent are they disengaged? Why have they become disengaged? Have they found other forms of political participation with social change? Are they not being given adequate political space? On taking the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the research are given to these questions.(Source G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20)HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCHYoung people do not have time for politics because of a change in lifecycle.Young people have found some other forms of political participation.Young people have negative attitudes towards politics and politicians.Young people are disengaged because politicians do not care about their needs and demands.Politicians/elders are not giving political space to young people.At this point, the aims and objectives become clearer.AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCHThe double objectives of the research are toTo know young peoples des ires and needs concerning society.Identify measures to introduce some changes in youth towards politics and vice versa.In order to reach these main objectives, the research aims toExplore the level of formal political participation among young people.Explore the level of informal political participation among young people.Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly.Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the disengagement of the young people about politics and try to find convenient actions to apply.ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERSThe next step which follows as can be seen in the diagram is the theoretical assumptions which help in verifying the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the research. The theoretical framework is also the base of the research which establishes working definitions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the methodology can be found throughout the who le dissertation while Chapter 3 has been devoted mainly to the methods used to extract information. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I also come up with some recommendations.A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF YOUTH AND POLITICS IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIESThe vast majority of reading on youth participation in politics shows that there has been a steady decline in youth political participation in many democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003 ONeill 2007). In almost every election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are continuously declining(Putnam 2000 Kimberlee 2002 Gauthier 2003 Pammett and Leduc 2003). Youth membership of political parties is also dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfrican countries have a majority of youth population, African parliaments have less than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In fact, research such as Putnam (2000), Ki mberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007)provide clear indication that the more recent generations are less likely to engage in politics than were previous generations of the same age. The generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will never reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies indicate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow older, and that consequently the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive generation of political participants (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, all these have to be tested. Hence, most important is to identify working definitions of terms on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms Youth and Politics have to be established.PARAMETER OF THE TERM YOUTH USEDBoth the first and second Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) define youth as persons aged between 14 and 29 living in the Republic of Mauritius. Thus for the purpose of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old.ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICSThe definition of politics is confined to what Randall (1987) identified as forms of political participation which are as follows VotingVoting is sometimes understood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. Marsh and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) find it as a unique type of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very often and is very much biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. Other Conventional Forms Of ParticipationAccording to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their cand idates, membership of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) find that women participate less men when it comes to this form of participation. Less Conventional PoliticsRandall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on direct tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women come into their own and their participation is as significant as that of men.These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the exploratory purpose of the research. While Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was purposely chosen since it also deals about womens participati on for each form. Hence with the gender variable, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To explain the identified disengagement of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have classified under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research Social change Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people.EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICSA. Social ChangeONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a new form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialising and they are unlike traditional social networks that require face-to-face contact. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the at tractiveness of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to divert from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct voluntary services.However in a study conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested.B. Adults attitudes and actionsConventional wisdom dictates that young people are less knowledgeable, ignorant, apathetic, indifferent, alienated, disaffected and disinterested when it comes to politics (Eden et al. 2002 OToole et al. 2003 Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the view that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and even boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth only want to have fun and politics appear dull to them.Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the right to participate in protest marches when such activities take place during class hours.C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young PeoplePammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as out of touch, untrustworthy, self-interested, irrelevant and power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003 Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Benn ett, 1997). They are very critical and quickly recognize when politicians lie or when they try to speak on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image problem (Edwards, 2001).Many young people feel that they are not heard by politicians and that they ultimately cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002 Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002 O Toole et al. 2003 Keeter 2003 Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their daily lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and large percentage of young people believe that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997).Youth have fewer resources for political participation because of lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more preoccupied with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974 Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live.After having established the body of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variables of the research which could at the same time be presented as some unique traits of the Mauritian Politics.TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCHA. Gender ImbalanceFrom Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observed that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elected while in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the General Elections were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded only 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as best-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has increased from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% goal set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror representation, group representation and interest representation and Chiroro (2005) highlighted that Mauritius totally fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 General Elections is yet to be known.B. Ethinicised PoliticsIn Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 additional seats allocated to the Best Losers am ong the non-elected. The latter seats are allocated on the basis of ethnic membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Thai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the minority groups (Addison et al 1993).Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not only according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This might be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant.C. Youth Political Engagement/DisengagementTABLE 1 CALCULATED AVERAGE AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUSELECTION 11TH SEPTEMBER 2000ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005MPs 2005 BY 28th FEBRUARY 2010MEAN AGE4749Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5).MODAL AGE3951MEDIAN AGE4751% OF YOUTH AS DEFINED AS PER THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY(2 66) 100= 3.03% (2 d.p)0%To be able to acquire this data, I have gathered and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elections could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the above table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it b ecomes necessary to gather primary data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current situation of the topic in the Mauritian context. Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of further testing in future research. To fill in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology.A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESSSTAGE 1 OBSERVATIONIt is well known that in Mauritius the SU is much linked to polit ical parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students Union (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on 19th October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an opportunity to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics.PLANNING THE OBSERVATIONA. Type of ObservationTYPE OF OBSERVATIONWHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATIONREASONNon participantEverything that could be seen, heard and felt.Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some information was not easily disclosed to me. Thus everything that could be seen, heard and felt was noted down. Moreover, 2 interviews were carried out with people involved in the campaign.B. Instruments Used For ObservationINSTRUMENTS USEDPURPOSE/SDiaryTo write fresh, valid, reliable and vivid data on the spot.CameraPhotographs were taken in case particular aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they coul d be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible.Myself Human IntrumentSince the senses have to be used in observation and the researcher exerts some sort of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process.STAGE 2 INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVESFor the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all.It is to be noted that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous.INTERVIEWEESOBJECTIVES1Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed).In order, not to be gender biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a gender comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this particular setting. U nstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities.2Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign).3Naveena Ramyad (female) former member in the MMM Youth Wing5 and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010.Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was found to be most convenient.4Devanand Ritoo the current Minister of Youth and Sports.Structured questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as1. An senior politician,2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party,3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports.PLANNING THE INTERVIEWSThe interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape recorder was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, body languages and tones. Hence face validity could be checked out on the spot.Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of mostly all Mauritians. This was done with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to talk as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My role as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered.However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The l acunas areIt was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but why the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use.STAGE 3 QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD AND ITS OBJECTIVESConcepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and statements in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, s ome questions related to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from subjective to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main advantage of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings.For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A copy of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6.THE TYPES OF QUESTION USEDSince each question/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question found to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questionsOPEN-ENDED QUESTIONCLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONLikert-typeDichotomousPartially closed questionMultiple choiceRankingTHE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCHOnly concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus gender was used as variable for all questions while the ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature.The survey does not intend to compare younger and mature youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy which has already been established in the previous chapter.DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODSA. What does this Sample Frame represent?Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the sample. The reasons for this were that All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. The students als o come from all over the island and thus the sample englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds but this should not be confused with the variable being used. Since the students of UoM were observed during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the sample, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations.The sampling frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 faculties, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to fill in questionnaires in each faculty.B. Sample SizeThe sample size set for the survey was as followsMALEFEMALEFOE3535FOA3535FSSH3535FLM3535FOS3535TOTAL175175350Since some questionnaires were rejected due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is reduced to the followingMALEFEMALEFOE3134FOA3533FSSH3335FLM3534FOS3435TOTAL168171339Hence the sample size considere d for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings.C. Sampling MethodsA combination of probability sampling (cluster sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons.1) Quota SamplingQuota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 questionnaires were filled through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, The faculty to which they belong, Sex, Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately.Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and collected by myself. This exercise was done with several objec tives It avoids the loss of questionnaires by respondents. Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, clarity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be observed on the site of research. It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one.2) Cluster/ Area SamplingWith a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be tiresome and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started undertaking the quota samplingCluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 question naires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. Permission was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot.PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAI