"Primary school enrollment has nearly tripled in Mali since 1991, when the country made its first transition to multiparty democracy. Jaimie Bleck explores the effect of this expanded access to education by analyzing the relationship between parents' and students' respective experiences with schooling and their current participation in politics. In a nation characterized both by the declining quality of public education and by a growing number of accredited private providers, does education contribute substantially to the political knowledge and participation of its citizens? Are all educational institutions (public and private, Islamic and secular) equally capable of shaping democratic citizens? Education and Empowered Citizenship in Mali is informed by Bleck's original survey of one thousand citizens, which she conducted in Mali before the 2012 coup d'e;tat, along with exit polls and interviews with parents, students, and educators. Her results demonstrate conclusively that education of any type plays an important role in empowering citizens as democratic agents. Simply put, students know more about politics than peers who have not attended school. Education also appears to bolster participation of parents. Bleck finds that parents who send their children to public school are more likely to engage in electoral politics than other Malian citizens. Furthermore, Bleck demonstrates that increasing levels of education are associated with increases in more engaged forms of political participation, including campaigning, willingness to run for office, and contacting government officials"--
"Primary school enrollment has increased dramatically in Sub-Saharan Africa since democratization in the 1990s. A large theoretical literature in political science identifies education as a tool for democracy and state-building. Schooling Citizens forecasts the effect of expanded access to schooling and the liberalization of educational sectors in Mali by analyzing the relationship between parents and students' educational experiences and their participation in politics. In a landscape of the declining quality of public education and a multitude of accredited private providers, including Islamic, Arabic-language schools, does schooling contribute to citizens' political knowledge and participation? Are all educational institutions equally capable of forming democratic citizens? Bleck's methodologically rigorous research answers these questions and more. Her original survey of 1,000 citizens, which she conducted in Mali before the 2012 coup d'état, explores how different educational experiences, in public/private/informal and Islamic schools, affect citizenship. She looks at the perspectives of both students and parents as social service consumers. The results demonstrate schooling, in any type, plays an important role empowering citizens as democratic agents"--
