November 17, 2021 | Noon to 1:00 PM EST
Gwyneth McClendon (New York University)
Join via Zoom: https://umich.zoom.us/j/97856170957
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Debate persists as to whether, and under what conditions, civic education increases political knowledge and political participation, particularly among younger voters. This project contributes new evidence to these debates through a community-collaborative field experiment in Zambia in the lead-up to its 2021 general elections. The study was conducted in collaboration with major religious coalitions, which are the most prevalent providers of civic education in Zambia and prevalent providers of civic education worldwide. The study randomly assigned youth (ages 18-35) participants in a WhatsApp-based civic education program into one of three conditions: civic information only (with no motivational messages), or civic information accompanied by either religious or non-religious motivational messages. We then measured political knowledge, political attitudes, and participation in the lead-up to and during the 2021 elections. The study found that the information-only course and the non-religiously motivated course both had compensatory effects on political participation, raising political knowledge and participation most robustly among young women and often reducing the ex-ante gender gap. However, the religiously motivated course increased participation most robustly among those who already occupied church leadership positions and often led to a retreat from participation among those without leadership positions (an exacerbating effect). The study shows that one should not take for granted that religious civic education will have large positive and compensatory effects on political participation, even in highly religious contexts. More generally, the paper underscores that the content of civic education courses can have consequences not just for the courses’ influence on aggregate political participation but also for the distribution of political involvement across groups.