نقش توسعه فرهنگی در مشارکت انتخاباتی استان‌های ایران

Objective: Political participation, as one of the indicators of the dynamics of political systems, is influenced by a set of structural, economic, social and environmental perceptions of citizens. Among the factors, the role of culture and the level of cultural development is often implicitly considered in research and has been less studied as an independent factor. Therefore, the research sought to explain the relationship between the level of cultural development and political participation in the provinces of our country.

Method: The research was a quantitative study in terms of its applied purpose and due to the use of statistical methods. Weighting of the indicators in the FANP factor analysis model and determination of the level of cultural development were also obtained in the VIKOR model. Also, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship, and to analyze the geographical patterns of elections, geographically oriented distribution and spatial distance autocorrelation in GIS were used.

Results: higher the level of cultural development in the provinces of our country, the lower the level of political participation in them. However, there is also a significant relationship between the spatial distance of the provinces and the level of political participation. In a way that increasing geographical distance is associated with increasing political participation and geographical proximity does not necessarily lead to participatory convergence. This pattern can be explained within the framework of a negative "spatial effect". In a way that most of the provinces of our country have common cultural, social and economic ties with their nearby provinces, which has led to the formation of a similar type of political behavior.

Conclusions: Merely increasing quantitative indicators of cultural development such, cannot promote political participation. Therefore, it is necessary to address the qualitative development of these indicators in the provinces of our country.