So far, we have established that the denizens of a dozen leading countries in Africa express support for democracy but harbor decidedly uncertain feelings about a market economy. We wonder whether these facets of public opinion have tangible consequences for day-to-day behavior. When trying to meet basic human needs, for example, do people act on their expressed preferences for public provision of social services by turning for help to state agencies? Or do they rather make use of the marketplace, the community, or the family? And on the political front, do they convert their declared conviction that democracy is the best form of government into concrete acts of political participation such as voting, attending community meetings, and contacting elected officials? Or do they opt out of — or work around — official channels?

The consolidation of new regimes, especially those based on principles of citizen or consumer sovereignty, hinges critically on broad popular participation. Beyond simply being humans bearing rights, people incur duties from belonging to a political community, including obligations to contribute to group decision making and to the expansion of the collective economic pie. If, however, people elect to withdraw from public life and to suffer in silence, then they obtain the governments and economies that they deserve. Absent mass participation, the door is open for autocrats or embezzlers to seize power or, at best, for nonelected technocrats to assume responsibility for governance and economic management.