Understandings of Democracy : New Norms and Participation in Changing Democracies

The understanding of what democracy means has never been the same for all people and nations. However, contemporary developments suggest a fundamental shift. Preferences for a- and anti-democratic political parties and authoritarian(-like) relationships between politics and civil society are gaining support. Remarkably, these developments originate and thrive in the midst of exactly those democratic structures rejected. We therefore ask if there is a new understanding of democracy, and we empirically identify a discernible category of people who support illiberal understandings of democracy. These citizens with disparaging views of democracy reject democratic processes and actors, and weakly support common norms of citizenship. Yet, they are active in politics. Because we find that it is actual participation which stimulates the understandings of democracy, our results suggest that instead of attempting to exclude citizens with illiberal understandings of democracy from political arenas, meeting them there can offer the opportunity to nurture more liberal democratic orientations