Students’ School and Political Participation in a Former Socialist Country

ABSTRACT Former socialist states made great progress in the institutional set up and development of civil societies after the fall of their non-democratic regimes. However, the gap in levels of political participation between former socialist states and old democracies remains. Using two-wave panel data, this study explores how four different types of participation are related to each other and whether a sense of internal political efficacy is a prerequisite or a product of these types of participation. The results imply that facilitation of a sense of internal political efficacy is the key for enhancing the level of youth political participation.