Citizens and Democracy in Europe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Political Support in Flux

   Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

   Abstract

   This chapter illustrates the goals and the research questions of this book, its theoretical framework and the empirical strategy. The volume aims to explain changes and cross-national differences in political support, understood as citizens’ evaluations of democracy and its main representative institutions, using countries’ contextual characteristics related to the inputs of the political system—the institutional format and its mechanics—and its outputs—the quality of the process, economic performance and economic redistribution. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of citizens’ social and political characteristics in producing gaps in satisfaction with democracy and trust in institutions. Finally, the volume explores how micro- and macro-level factors are intertwined and linked to political support over time and across countries.

3. Conceptual Framework

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 2. Political Support as an Evaluation

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      There is controversy around the meaning and measurement of satisfaction with democracy and trust in its institutions. This chapter addresses this debate reviewing current approaches to the measurement of the evaluative dimension of political support. It also argues in favour of the idea that satisfaction with democracy and trust in political institutions can be used to capture citizens’ evaluations of political objects. Using several data sources for European countries, such as the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, the European Values Study, the European Social Survey (ESS) and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), this chapter provides evidence of this interpretation, contrasting available survey measures to other relevant indicators of political support and exploring what elements of democracy citizens consider when they express democratic satisfaction and trust.

4. Context-Level Explanations

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 3. Contextual Theories of Political Support

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      The origins of support for democracy and its institutions are far from being clear. Cultural theories hypothesize that supportive attitudes originate from socialization processes, and, consequently, they are relatively stable over time. Modernization theories consider political support to develop outside of the political sphere, and they anticipate a decline as the result of a value change. Institutional and performance theories, in contrast, assume satisfaction and trust to be a reaction to the political context, which changes and varies across countries. This chapter follows the latter approaches, also developing conditional explanations. It distinguishes between input and output factors and focuses on the role of the institutional structure, the quality of process, economic performance and inequality in explaining cross-national and over time variation in support.

   3. Chapter 4. Changes Over Time and Country Differences

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      The literature presents two arguments about changes in political support. One argument states that satisfaction with democracy and trust in political institutions are steadily declining because of societal changes. Another argument states that political support fluctuates over time, mostly because of medium- and short-term changes in contextual factors. Using data from 31 European countries between 1973 and 2017, this chapter shows that democratic satisfaction and political trust vary over time, with some countries experiencing a strong decline in some periods and others an increase. It then shows that cross-national differences remain stable, despite changes over time within countries. The results suggest that variation over time and cross-national variation may be explained by within- and between-country contextual conditions.

   4. Chapter 5. Explaining Political Support in Context

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      This chapter tests the main expectations derived from institutional and performance theories on changes and cross-national differences in democratic satisfaction and trust. Applying hierarchical models on survey data on thirty-one European countries between 1995 and 2017, it disentangles the role of power-sharing institutions and ideological distance, quality of government, economic performance and inequality in explaining between- and within-country variations in our two evaluative dimensions of political support, i.e. satisfaction and trust. Moreover, it assesses conditional explanations studying whether growth in political support depends on average positive contextual conditions and whether the effect of changing contexts varies over time. The chapter provides a broad analysis of the origins of political satisfaction and trust, providing findings that shed new light on the role of systemic factors.

5. Individual-Level Explanations

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 6. Individual Theories and the Role of Context

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      A comprehensive study of political support should consider individual-level factors. Democratic satisfaction and political trust are often considered the result of a rational assessment based on expectations and utility perceived from the working of the system and its representative institutions. However, such economic rationality is not sustained by the evidence. On the contrary, to reduce the cost of seeking and processing information people use heuristics based on their social and political experiences. This chapter illustrates how education, employment and electoral status create gaps in democratic satisfaction and trust and explores the potential effects of input and output factors in influencing these gaps, anticipating the conditions under which convergence, divergence or parallelism in support between different groups may occur.

   3. Chapter 7. Gaps Over Time and Across Countries

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      The literature shows that political support is not distributed evenly among the population. There are individual characteristics that create ‘gaps’ in how citizens evaluate democracy and its institutions. Nevertheless, there has been little attention on how gaps in political support change over time and across countries in Europe. While previous research has paid broad attention to cross-national differences in the winner–loser gap, little has been done on the education gap, and even less on the employment status gap. In addition, analysis of how these three gaps change over time has been overlooked, leaving questions about the trends in them unanswered. This chapter provides an overview of the effects of education, employment and electoral status on political support, illustrating their variation across countries and over time in Europe.

   4. Chapter 8. Explaining Gaps in Context

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      This chapter assesses whether gaps in political support due to education, employment position and electoral status depend on changes and country differences in input and output contextual factors. Using hierarchical models with survey data on a set of European countries between 1995/2002 and 2017, it disentangles the role of power distribution, ideological distance, quality of government, economic performance and inequality for explaining between- and within-country variation in gaps, trying to understand under what conditions they are narrower or larger. The chapter not only provides a broad analysis of how the context may moderate the role of social and political experience in political satisfaction and trust, but it also attempts to contribute to our understanding of how people form opinions through information from the political context.

   5. Chapter 9. Changes and Political Support: What Is the Role of Context?

      Sergio Martini, Mario Quaranta

      Abstract

      What is the state of satisfaction with democracy and political trust in Europe? What can explain over-time changes and cross-national differences in the evaluative side of political support? Are the contextual factors linked to the input—power distribution and representation—and the output—quality of government, economic performance and inequality—sides of the political system important? How do individual-level heterogeneities come into the picture? Finally, does the context affect individual differences in political support? This concluding chapter summarizes the main findings of the empirical analyses addressing this book’s research questions, and it discusses their main implications and avenues for future research.

6. Backmatter