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.-- 1 Introduction: Democracy, the European Verdict, Monica Ferrin, Hanspeter Kriesi -- 2 Constructing the Questionnaire: The Challenges of Measuring Attitudes toward Democracy across Europe, Lizzy Winstone, Sally Widdop, Rory Fitzgerald, -- Part I Views of Democracy in Europe -- 3 Europeans' Views of Democracy: The Core Elements of Democracy, Enrique Hernandez -- 4 The Structure of Europeans' Views of Democracy: Citizens' Models of Democracy, Hanspeter Kriesi, Willem Saris, Paolo Moncagatta -- 5 How People Understand Democracy: A Social Dominance Approach, Besir Ceka, Pedro C. Magalhaes -- 6 Types of Liberal Democracy and Generational Shifts: How Citizens' Views of Democracy Differ Across Generational Cohorts, Mark Franklin, 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, Irene Palacios -- 9 The Structure of the Evaluations of Democracy, Hanspeter Kriesi, Willem Saris -- 10 Explaining Citizens' Evaluations of Democracy, Mariano Torcal, 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---What Have We Learnt, and Where Do We Go from Here?, Hanspeter Kriesi, Leonardo Morlin