Democratic Commitment Why Citizens Tolerate Democratic Backsliding

Why do citizens often fail to resist democratic backsliding? Democratic Commitment claims that political culture is key to explaining enduring electoral support for elected leaders who openly dismantle democratic checks and balances. It posits that heterogeneous understandings of democracy and a lack of liberal democratic commitment leave important parts of the electorate vulnerable to majoritarian or illiberal appeals as well as buy-outs by political elites. Updating the classical literature on political culture and its role in democratisation, this book studies the crucial cases of Hungary and Poland to posit the micro-foundations connecting democratic attitudes and political behaviour.

The empirical analyses leverage a mixed-methods design and draw on extensive original material comprising focus groups, elite discourses and surveys including two conjoint experiments. The findings show how, despite widespread generic support for democracy as a regime form, divergent understandings of democracy persist among citizens and shape their responses to democratic transgressions. Bringing new data and methods to the study of linkages between mass support for democracy and regime outcomes, the monograph demonstrates the crucial role citizens' democratic attitudes play in enabling the deepening and entrenchment of democratic backsliding. Its insights hold important implications for practical efforts to bolster democratic resilience and boost mass support for liberal democracy.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International] licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Natasha Wunsch, Professor of European Studies, Department of European Studies and Slavic Studies, University of Fribourg

Natasha Wunsch is Professor of European Studies and Director of the Center for European Studies at the University of Fribourg. She was previously Assistant Professor at Sciences Po (CEE) and Senior Researcher with the Center for Comparative and International Studies at ETH Zurich, as well as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University and the University of Oxford. She holds a PhD in Political Science (2016) from University College London. Her research interests lie at the intersection between European Politics and Comparative Politics, with a particular focus on democratic backsliding and the rise of illiberal populism.