Lost in transition, found in recession? Satisfaction with democracy in Central Europe before and after economic crises

0508055 - SOÚ 2020 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Vlachová, Klára
Lost in transition, found in recession? Satisfaction with democracy in Central Europe before and after economic crises.
Communist and Post-Communist Studies. Roč. 52, č. 3 (2019), s. 227-234. ISSN 0967-067X. E-ISSN 1873-6920
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LM2015066
Research Infrastructure: ESS CZ - 90012
Institutional support: RVO:68378025
Keywords : satisfaction with democracy * satisfaction with economy * trust in parliament * Central Europe
OECD category: Political science
Impact factor: 0.951, year: 2019
Method of publishing: Open access
https://online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article/52/3/227/1555/Lost-in-transition-found-in-recession-Satisfaction

For decades, research on democracy has produced evidence that the peoples of countries in Central Europe are less satisfied with the way democracy works in their countries than people in Western Europe. Using the data from the European Social Survey (ESS) I explore, how satisfaction with the way democracy works (SWD) changed in these countries between 2004 and 2014 and test the impact of satisfaction with the present state of the economy and trust in parliament on SWD. Results of the analysis reveal that people in Central Europe are still less satisfied with the democratic performance on average than people in Western Europe, but their satisfaction is on the rise especially in countries where the economy performs well, economic performance brings better standard of living, and people share a sense of economic optimism. Results also suggest that in countries where economic optimism is low, political evaluations of “crises in democracy” may play a larger role in explaining satisfaction with democratic performance.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0299009