Societal Characteristics and Citizens’ Assessments of Democratic Quality

• In Event: Democratic Support: Misperceptions and Understanding of Democracy

Abstract

Amidst a contemporary global wave of democratic backsliding, citizens in many countries continue to support and vote for political leaders and parties that undermine democracy (e.g., Maerz 2020). This could indicate that many citizens are less committed to democracy than what has been commonly assumed. Rather than citizens being openly opposed to democracy, they may consider ongoing practices in their countries as being democratic in nature. These insights speak to the need to gain a better understanding of what citizens perceive as democratic and what factors shape citizens assessments of democratic quality. We shed light on these questions, by offering a systematic study of how various societal characteristics influence citizens' views on the state of democracy. While previous work on citizens' commitments to democracy have studied the (non-democratic) behavior and statements of hypothetical political leaders or candidates for office, we shift the focus to studying democracy as one trait at the country/societal level. This allows us to study how citizens assessments of democratic quality is shaped by a more complex, comprehensive assessment of various aspects of society. We employ paired-profile conjoint experiments in approximately 30 countries to test our hypotheses. Specifically, we randomly assign characteristics to hypothetical country profiles on gender equality, cultural diversity, economy, crime, elections, separation of power, and free speech.

Authors

• Sirianne Dahlum, University of Oslo

• Kristian Vrede Skaaning Frederiksen, Aarhus University

• Anja Neundorf, Unveristy of Glasgow

• Aykut Ozturk, University of Glasgow