Fighting political apathy

Meaning of Political Apathy and examples of Political Apathy

Political apathy can be defined as lack of interest in political activities; it is a state of non participation of citizens in the political process of their community, state or country. It is a situation where citizens exhibit carefree attitude to political issues by not participating in it.

Political apathy is the indifference on the part of any citizen of any country with regard to their attitude towards political activities. For example, political, elections, public opinions, civic responsibility, etc.

A broader way of referring to political apathy in a country is to consider its political culture. By contrast, political culture is the behavioral disposition of people towards the government of their country vis-a-vis every other political activity. Political apathy, if left uncontrolled, can bring about stagnation to the development of any nation. An individual’s political apathy begins with a lack of understanding of politics or government to a certain degree, and that makes it more difficult for that individual to see the value in universal suffrage, and to see the benefits and/or costs of new policies that the government places. That makes the individual see it as irrational to gain the knowledge; since (supposedly) there would be no benefit (the individual would see this as rational ignorance. This creates a feedback loop.

Causes of Political Apathy

The following points below are the causes of political apathy

1. Bad Governance: The government of Nigeria for instance rules in a bad and carefree manner, their act does not motivate people thereby making people to ignore and nonchalant to political activities.
2. Election Rigging: so many citizens belief that no matter the level of security election are going to be rigged either directly or indirectly thereby they see voting as a waste of time and energy.
3. Past History of Political Occurrence: Due to the fact that some family members, friends and relatives have been victimized in the process of participating in political issues, because of this experience people decide not to participate in politics.
4. Violent Campaign: Sometimes, the way political parties carry out their carry out their campaigns appears too violent and this can lead to lack of interest in politics.
5. Military Invitation: people reflect on the past hijacked political activities through bloody coup d’état because of this people decide not to participate.
6. Weak Security Measure: Most of the times, the security provided by the government during election or campaigns or any demonstration are always too weak to provide adequate security; this therefore creates fear in the heart of people and make them not want to participate.
7. Chaotic Political Atmosphere: Sometimes political atmosphere appears unpeaceful, the political killings and all the rest is another reason for political apathy.

Ways of Fighting Political Apathy

The following ways are the means by which citizens can fight against political apathy

1. By participating in election
2. By knowing and defending our right
3. By joining or belonging to popular organizations like the NLC (Nigeria Labor Congress) political party like APC, PDP,LP etc.

ASSESSMENT

1. Define Political Apathy
2. List 6 causes of political apathy
3. What are the ways of fighting political apathy?