The Structural Context of Politics and Dimensions of Regime Performance Their Importance for the Comparative Study of Political Efficacy.” Comparative Political Studies 9(2):189–206

lmond and Verba (1965: 1-44) suggest that political cultures may be A characterized by reference to four categories of attitude objects: the political system as a general object, input objects, output objects, and the self as an active participant. The concept of subjective civic competence, which constitutes the analytic heart of 77ze ai ic Ciilrzrre, might best be Seen as representing an instance of the latter object. The specific questions which are utilized by Almond and Verba to operationalize subjective civic competence are revealing. They deal with (a) whether or not one perceives the existence of channels for attempting to influence government officials and (b) whether those channels involve cooperative mobilization behavior or not. Both types of question are couched in terms of individuals as potential political actors. By way of contrast, the concept of political efficacy, while seemingly similar, is somewhat more difficult to classify. If one defines political efficacy in the fashion suggested by hlokken (1971: 226) as the “sense of being able to exercise a personal influence in the system, ” then there are really two attitude objects: oneself and the system. A low sense of political efficacy could be a function of either or both sources of variation