Citizens’ Internal and External Political Efficacy: A Comparative Investigation

• In Event: Responsiveness and Political Efficacy in Advanced Democracies

Abstract

This study conducts a comprehensive cross-national assessment of citizens’ internal and external political efficacy by analyzing all available data on political efficacy from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) between 1985 and 2016. Building on the most prominent comparative analysis of the ISSP on these topics that analyzed data gathered 1985 in four advanced democracies (Hayes & Bean 1993), we test three main sets of expectations in the literature. First, we test whether internal and external political efficacy continue to measure empirically distinct constructs. Second, we verify whether internal efficacy has remained stable or increased during the same time period that external efficacy has decreased. Third, we investigate the over-time evolution in the predictive power of the set of individual-level (e.g., socio-economic resources) and contextual-level determinants (e.g., electoral system characteristics) of internal and external political efficacy identified in prior literature. Thus, at a time of concern for rising authoritarianism and declining democratic legitimacy, the study contributes new knowledge regarding the cross-national and longitudinal trends and determinants of internal and external political efficacy.

Authors

• Jennifer Oser, Ben-Gurion University

• Fernando Feitosa, McGill University

• Ruth Dassonneville, Universite de Montreal