How Europeans View and Evaluate Democracy

Based on a new data-set covering 29 European and neighboring countries, this volume shows how, Europeans view and evaluate democracy: what are their conceptions of democracy, how do they assess the quality of democracy in their own country, and to what extent do they consider their country's democracy as legitimate? The study shows that Europeans share a common view of liberal democracy, which is complemented by elements of social and direct democracy, which go beyond the basic liberal model. The level of their demands in terms of democracy varies, however, considerably across Europe and is related to their assessment of democracy: the worse the quality of democracy in a given country, the higher the respective demands on democracy. The analysis of the determinants of democratic views and evaluations shows that they depend on the political and economic (but less on the cultural) context conditions.

Comparative Politics is a series for students, teachers, and researchers of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu.

The Comparative Politics series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Universite libre de Bruxelles; Ferdinand Muller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston.

1. Introduction: Democracy - the Verdict of the Europeans, Monica Ferrin and Hanspeter Kriesi
2. Constructing the Questionnaire: the Challenges of Measuring Views and Evaluations of Democracy Across Europe, Lizzy Winstone, Sally Widdop, and Rory Fitzgerald
Part I: Views of Democracy in Europe
3. Europeans' Views of Democracy: the Core Elements of Democracy, Enrique Hernandez Perez
4. The Structure of Europeans' Views of Democracy: Citizens' Models of Democracy, Hanspeter Kriesi, Willem Saris, and Paolo Moncagatta
5. The Determinants of Citizens' views of Democracy, Besir Ceka and Pedro C. Magalhaes
6. Types of Liberal Democracy and Generational Shifts: How Citizens' Views of Democracy Differ Across Generational Cohorts, Mark Franklin and Pedro Riera
7. What Type of Democratic Commitment Lies Behind the Importance of Living in a Democracy?, Sonia Alonso
Part II: Evaluations of European Democracies
8. Citizens' Evaluations of Democracy. A Microscope with Quality Seal, Braulio Gomez and Irene Palacios
9. The Structure of the Evaluation of Democracy, Hanspeter Kriesi and Willem Saris
10. Explaining Citizens' Evaluations of Democracy, Mariano Torcal and Alexander H. Trechsel
Part III: Legitimacy of European Democracies
11. Democratic Legitimacy: Concepts, Measures, Outcomes, Bernhard Wessels
12. Determinants of Democratic Legitimacy: Liberal Democracy and Social Justice, Radoslaw Markowski
13. An Empirical Assessment of Satisfaction with Democracy, Monica Ferrin
14. Conclusion, Hanspeter Kriesi and Leonardo Morlino