Quarterly Journal of Social Development (Previously Human Development)

Quarterly Journal of Social Development (Previously Human Development)

Analysis of the Foundations and Consequences of the Decline in Political Participation in Khuzestan Province Based on the Theory Based on the Point of View of Political Elites

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Fariba Jamei 1
Alihossein Hosseinzadeh 2
Nabiallah Ider 3
1 PhD student in Political Sociology, Department of Political Sociology, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar, Iran
2 Professor, Department of Sociology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Sociology, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar, Iran
10.22055/qjsd.2024.46296.2927
Abstract
Political development means increasing the capacity of a political system to resolve conflicts between individual and collective interests, and its most important symbol is the maximum political participation of the people, while Khuzestan Province, with its special geopolitical location, has faced a decrease in political participation over the past decade. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to qualitatively analyze the obstacles to political development in Khuzestan Province using the grounded theory method. The study population was the political elites of Khuzestan Province, of which 18 samples were selected using purposeful and chain methods, and the data were collected through in-depth interviews. In order to validate, member validity and research review methods were used. The research findings showed that the causal conditions affecting the central phenomenon of "decrease in political participation" include: popular factors, governance factors, institutional factors, and peripheral factors. In response to the phenomenon of "decreasing political participation", there is a "political development" strategy, the background conditions affecting which include: ethnic composition, geopolitical and geoeconomic position, the state of the economic-social base of the province's residents, communication-information infrastructure, marginalization, unemployment and the small share of natives in oil employment, the consequences of the imposed war, and the difference in the province's level of welfare in the historical context. The intervening conditions affecting this strategy also include: internal popular obstacles, internal governmental obstacles, obstacles resulting from the province's border location, and external obstacles. These three groups of conditions are the same obstacles to the political development of Khuzestan province. Also, the consequences of the "political development" strategy include: popular interests and governmental interests.
Keywords
Political Development
Political Participation
Political Elites
Khuzestan Province
Grounded Theory
Subjects
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Quarterly Journal of Social Development (Previously Human Development)
Volume 18, Issue 3 - Serial Number 71
Vol. 18, No. 3, Spring 2024
Spring 2024
Pages 313-350