The pathology of the causes of the decrease in political participation in the 11th period of the Islamic Parliament elections from the perspective of learned helplessness theory

KOMEILI, FARZANEH SADAT; Sadeghi Avval, Hadi

The pathology of the causes of the decrease in political participation in the 11th period of the Islamic Parliament elections from the perspective of learned helplessness theory

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

FARZANEH SADAT KOMEILI ¹

hadi sadeghi avval ²

¹ Phd student of political thought. Department of Political Science. Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Shiraz University. Iran

² Assistant professor.Department of political science . Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Shiraz University. Iran

Abstract

In countries with a democratic political system, the holding of elections and the level of participation are among the most important indicators of the political system.Its importance has caused many political studies to focus on this phenomenon.This research,with an interdisciplinary analysis and by applying Seligman's "learned helplessness" theory,explained the results of the reduction in the Islamic Parliment elections in 2018;According to this theory,the decrease in the participation rate should be sought in the experience of previous psychological failures,for which we will go to trends and events:Various political changes during the 4 decades of the establishment of the IRI system,due to the lack of sufficient ability to realize the slogans,made a significant part of the society desperate to achieve their wishes And the bitter events,occurred in the 2 years leading to the 11th parliamentary elections,caused the psychological atmosphere of the society to move towards the inability to influence the political arena. Successive failures teach people to become helpless and finally lead them to the abyss of passivity,which in the 2018 elections,this passivity was the product of turning away from political discourses and tolerance of frequent impactful events, which manifested itself in indifference and expressed non-participation.

Keywords

"political psychology"

" political participation". "elections"

"learned helplessness". "Martin Seligman"

Subjects

Topics related to the Islamic Revolution

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