Regime Orientation and Participant Citizenship in Developing Countries: Hypotheses and a Test With Longitudinal Data From Tunisia

Abstract

T HE CONCEPT of political culture has received much attention in recent years. Introduced by Almond more than two decades ago (1956), political culture is conceptualized as the summary value of citizens' orientations toward the political system and is important because it provides a link between the individual and the political system.' Accordingly, political culture is also an essential component of the broader construct of political development.2 Social scientists do not always define political development in a consistent fashion, but there nevertheless is wide agreement that appropriate individual attitudes and values are essential for a society to develop politically. This view is found in early general studies of politics,3 the literature on democratic political systems,4 and studies of developing countries.5 Relevant individual orientations include political interest and information, participation in civic affairs, identification with the national community and its political institutions and the absence of political alienation. Following Inkeles, this collection of civic political orientations may be referred to as citizenship. Though not independent of other aspects of political development, participant citizenship is a central ingredient in the quest for political modernization, making it critical for students of nation-building to understand the conditions under which it does and does not come into existence. Yet