Exploring the Relationship between Tribalism and Political Participation (Case Study: Parliament Election in Mamasani Voting Zone)

Political participation in every society is in relation to its political culture. In democratic societies with modern political culture, participation is a systematic event and affected by formal and inclusive organizations and institutions. In the developing countries, however, participation is an unsystematic foundation, and the political behaviors and actions of people are based on informal and tribal issues. Mamasani voting zone is one of those living places whose people have a nomadic characteristic and therefore, benefit from a tribal ethnic features. Owing to the specific culture, the pattern of political participation in this town has a tribal function. Considering this, the goal of the present research was to explain the relationship between tribalism and political participation. Data was collected through library sources and field studies (interviewing and observation). It seems that there is a meaningful relationship between two variables tribalism and political participation. Moreover, environmental and tribal tendencies play a key role in political participation in Mamasani voting zone. In the first three rounds of parliament election in which tribalism had not took the form of violence and prejudice yet, political participation followed its natural course, but from the fourth and the fifth rounds onwards, we can see social and geographical demarcations which separate the inhabitants and produce the concepts “self” and “others”. This happening resulted in forming an identity-oriented electoral behavior and tribal street rivalry. It also affected the political participation and intensified it so that according to the data, participation has increased course even the eligible population has decreased.