Bangladesh has ranked the highest in terms of people’s political participation among 33 developing and emerging nations, says a global survey.
The country, however, has a very low political efficacy with over two-thirds of the respondents saying government officials do not care about what the people think, it says.
The survey, titled “Spring 2014 Global Attitudes Survey” by the US-based Pew Research Centre, shows 65 percent Bangladeshis have higher level of involvement in political affairs and 29 percent medium level, though the Asia region ranks the lowest in this field with an overall median of 24 percent. As regions, the Middle East and Africa have relatively high rates of participation in political affairs.
The report examines patterns of political participation in a variety of activities, including voting, protesting and online engagement in the surveyed nations. It also looks at political efficacy and the perceived effectiveness of these political activities in these countries.
A total of 1,000 Bangladeshis aged over 18 were interviewed face to face from April 14 to May 11.
Eighty percent of them choose voting as the most useful form of political engagement with 78 percent saying they have voted in the last 12 months or in the more distant past.
One-third of the participants say that they would never engage with political parties.
Forty-eight percent respondents in Bangladesh said they attended political events or speeches of political leaders in the last one year while 37 percent participated in an organised protest of any kind, says the survey.
About one-third of the Bangladeshis claimed to be active members of political organisations, and to have contacted government officials and participated in labour strikes.
Twenty-four percent Bangladeshi respondents say they phoned a television or radio show to express an opinion on political issues while the worldwide percentage in this category is nine.
Less than one-fourth people claim to have signed a petition about a political issue, and posted online comments on political affairs and online links to political articles.
According to the survey conducted among about 38,000 people in 33 developing countries between March 17 and June 5 this year, Pakistan has the lowest level of political engagement with only 12 percent of its people having higher participation.
Voting Most Effective
Among the forms of political engagement included in the survey, voting in an election is seen as the most effective way to influence what a government does.
Eighty percent Bangladeshis think voting is very or somewhat effective, while 58 percent say that attending campaigns or speeches and participating in organised protests are effective means of political change.
Roughly half of those surveyed believe membership in a political organisation and participation in labour strikes are effective means of political engagement. More than one-third respondents believe phoning a live radio or TV show to express an opinion and signing a petition about a political issue are useful ways to affect political change.
Only 27 and 31 percent see posting links to political articles online and posting online comments on political issues as useful tools of governmental change.
The survey says that 69 percent Bangladeshis believe the government officials do not care about what they think. A meagre 19 percent claim that they are cared.
Young Avoid Conventional Ways
The study reveals that young people are much less likely to engage in some traditional forms of political participation, including voting and contacting government officials.
In 21 countries, the young are significantly less likely to vote compared with those aged 50 and older with differences of 15 percentage points or more in about half of the countries surveyed.
They often participate in less traditional ways than their older counterparts, especially through online activity. This is due at least in part to the fact that younger people are also more likely to use the internet.
In 22 of 31 countries, 18 to 29-year olds are more likely to post links to political articles and post their own comments or thoughts about politics online.
No such details about Bangladesh were given in the poll report.