Department of Political Science

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Browsing Department of Political Science by Subject "#NotTooYoungToRun"

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    Beyond #NotTooYoungToRun: party candidacy, political representation and legislative effectiveness of young politicians in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Abati, Omomayowa Olawale; Schulz-Herzenberg, Collette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the implication of the #NotTooYoungToRun Act (also called the Age Reduction Law) for young politicians' candidacy in parties, political representation and lawmaking effectiveness across national and subnational legislatures in Nigeria. The study asks three research questions to understand how the age reduction law may open the political space for youth political representation and how young-adult politicians would assert their agency within the parties and legislatures. First, it examines the proportion of young-adult political aspirants that enter the candidacy pool as party candidates and of young-adult candidates elected to national and subnational legislatures. Second, it explores how the internal dynamics of political parties influence the political candidature of young-adult legislative aspirants. Third, it analyses the legislative effectiveness of young and other age group members of parliament (MPs) in the light of institutional dynamics of parliamentary lawmaking processes and norms. The study adopts a mixed-method case study design based on a pragmatic research philosophy. The design makes it possible to triangulate qualitative and quantitative data from the House of Representatives (HoR), Kwara and Oyo Houses of Assembly (HoAs), and the two major political parties, using qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. The quantitative data includes candidacy and membership records, and qualitative data consists of seventy interviews with multiple actors ranging from MPs, party leaders, representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs), one focus group discussion with ten unsuccessful candidates from minor parties and several official party and parliamentary documents. The quantitative data was analysed using appropriate methods of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, and the qualitative data was thematically analysed. The study finds that while the reform resulted in a significantly increased number of young-adult candidates, the corresponding unwillingness of parties (especially the major ones) to nominate an appreciable number of young-adult candidates reduced the reform's effect on youth descriptive representation in national and subnational parliaments. As such, the reform's impact is limited to a mobilising effect that sees young adults contesting for elective positions at younger ages than was previously possible. However, while most young adult candidates could not overcome the hurdle of party politics for several reasons, the few who did leverage several combinations of personalistic, social and clientelist appeals to emerge as party candidates and win legislative seats. However, on getting into parliament, the young-adult MPs faced different dynamics that limited their legislative effectiveness in the first term in office. The study's findings have three main implications. First, contrary to previous narratives, young adults are not politically disinterested nor inexperienced in political leadership. Second, electorally competitive young-adult aspirants are not hindered by the age-related selection biases inherent in internal party processes. Finally, the study's findings show that MPs' personal characteristics and institutional positionings and norms are age-sensitive, thereby shaping the legislative effectiveness of young-adult MPs in parliament. The study concludes that as the national and subnational parliaments become increasingly composed of young-adult MPs over the coming years, new questions need to be asked about how these young-adult MPs represent specific youth interests.