From Spectatorship to Citizenship: Televised Supreme Court Presidential Election Petitions and Public Perceptions of Judicial Legitimacy in Nairobi, Kenya

Resumo

Judicial transparency reforms assume that institutional visibility not only builds public trust but also activates democratic citizenship. Yet whether courtroom broadcasting actually produces civic engagement gains remains largely untested empirically. This article examines whether watching Kenya's televised Supreme Court presidential election petitions increased democratic participation. Drawing on survey data from 250 Nairobi residents, four focus group discussions, and comparative analysis across exposure levels, the study finds complexity and conditional civic activation effects surrounding the 2022 petition. Respondents who watched live proceedings for five or more hours exhibited significant gains in political efficacy, discussion frequency, and constitutional interest. Consumption through social media produced negligible change. Education moderated effects substantially, with university-educated respondents gaining three times the efficacy increase of their secondary-educated counterparts, revealing transparency's capacity to reproduce rather than reduce existing civic inequalities. Women who watched proceedings gained more than men despite assigning lower legitimacy ratings to the institution, suggesting that visibility can activate marginalized groups even when it does not fully persuade them of institutional quality. Deliberation proved critical: gains were strongest amongst those who discussed proceedings with diverse others. Approximately 28 per cent of activated respondents channeled increased engagement into partisan mobilization rather than deliberative participation. The findings challenge both optimistic assumptions that visibility automatically activates citizenship and pessimistic claims that it merely produces passive spectators.