Understanding democracy in

comparative context

anna andeenkova

CeSSI

2

Evaluation of the way democracy work in the country is one of the key

part of modern political process. Measuring the evaluation of democracy

is the task for many comparative and national surveys

The level of satisfaction with democracy in different groups of countries is

very different

44%

54%

48%

24%

15%

42%

73%

50%47%

23%20%

37%

72%

46%

30%

24%22%

49%

81%

62%

37%

30%

21%

74%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Europe total Northern Europe Western Europe Southern Europe Central and

Eastern Europe

RUSSIA

2006

2008

2010

2012

Satisfaction with the way democracy work in the country

(% 6-10 on scale from 0 to 10), ESS data

Question: On the whole, how satisfied are you with the way democracy works in Russia? (0- extremely dissatisfied, 10 –

extremely satisfied)

Вопрос: Если говорить в целом, насколько Вы удовлетворены тем, как работает демократия в России? (шкала

ответов 0 – совершенно не удовлетворен, 10- полностью удовлетворен)

3

The level of satisfaction with democracy between particular

countries in Europe is also very different

85%

84%

82%

79%

79%

73%

64%

62%

57%

57%

49%

48%

44%

43%

42%

38%

38%

33%

26%

25%

22%

21%

19%

11%

Switzerland

Norway

Denmark

Finland

Sweden

Netherlands

Germany

Belgium

Israel

Iceland

Great Britain

Irland

Slovakia

Czech Republic

Cyprus

Estonia

Poland

Hungary

Spain

Kosovo

Portugal

Russia

Slovenia

Bulgaria

Satisfaction with the way democracy work in the country

(% 6-10 on scale from 0 to 10), ESS 2012

4

Differences in evaluation of democracy in a country

can be a result of

Real differences in

functioning of democracy,

fulfillment of democratic

principles and norms

in particular country

Differences in

understanding of

democracy

as a concept

Experience, learning of

democratic principles,

norms, procedures,

practical skills

Consequences and Reasons

Consequences

Stability of democratic system

Support and trust to political and public institutions

Integration of citizens into political system (vs. anomie, alienation)

Prior historical

experience,

traditions

Type and

characteristics of

political system

Question – are cross-county comparisons possible on this issue?

5

Method of “open”

definition

Method of rating of

theoretical components

How to study the issue of understanding

democracy in different countries

«Open-ended question» - What

is democracy in your opinion?

What are the main

characteristics of democracy?

Define theoretical components of democracy

Find the correspondence of theoretical factors with the perception of population - evaluate these components (ranging/ ranking – horizontal or hierarchical structure)

Thomassen 1995, Kornberg and Clarke 1992, Seligson 2001, Canache et al. 2001; Baviskar and Malone 2004; Bratton, Mattes and Gyimah-Boadi 2005; R.J. Dalton, D. C. Shin, W.Jou 2007

Diamond and Morlino 2005; Morlino, 2009

Hanspeter Kriesi, Leonardo Morlino, Pedro Magalhães, Sonia Alonso and Mónica Ferrín, Mark Franklin, Bernard Wessels, Mariano Torcal, Braulio Gуmez, Alexander Trechsel, Radek Markowski, Wolfgang Merkel, Todd Landmann.

6

Theoretical components of democracy

Procedural Policies, End-Result

Civic equality - courts treat everyone the same «Чтобы суды подходили ко всем одинаково»

Policy to reduce differences in income «Чтобы правительство предпринимало меры по уменьшению разницы в доходах между людьми»

Rights of minorities are protected «Чтобы права меньшинств были защищены»

Protecting all citizens against poverty «Чтобы государство защищало всех граждан от бедности»

Participation Control Freedoms and

Competition

Free and Fair elections «Чтобы федеральные выборы проводились свободно и справедливо»

Competition between parties «Чтобы политические партии предлагали избирателям по-настоящему разные программы»

Free opposition «Чтобы оппозиционные партии могли свободно критиковать правительство»

Free media «Чтобы средства массовой информации могли свободно критиковать правительство»

Vertical - governing parties are punished in elections when they have done a bad job - «Чтобы правящие партии лишались поддержки избирателей, если плохо выполняют свою работу»

Feedback - the government explains its decisions to voters «Чтобы правительство разъясняло свои решения избирателям»

Access to information from media - media provide citizens with reliable information to judge the government «Чтобы СМИ предоставляли гражданам достоверную информацию, позволяющую судить о деятельности правительства»

Horizontal - the courts are able to stop the government acting beyond its authority «Чтобы суды могли приостановить решения правительства, если оно

превышает свои полномочия»

Direct participation citizens have the final say on the most important political issues by voting on them directly in referendums

«Чтобы граждане страны имели решающее слово в принятии важных политических решений путем прямого голосования на референдумах»

Participation for all «Чтобы иммигранты получали право голосовать на федеральных выборах, только после получения гражданства»

Voters discuss politics before voting «Чтобы до того, как принимать решение за кого голосовать, избиратели обсуждали политические вопросы в своем кругу»

7

Data: countries in ESS

Red - participated in all or almost all rounds since 2006

Orange – participated in few rounds

Yellow – did not participate

Not in ESS In ESS

Moldavia Russia

Belarus Turkey

Israel

Albania

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Macedonia

Montenegro

Not in ESS

Andorra

Lichtenstein

Monako

Vanikan

Malta

San Marino

8 8

Understanding Democracy in Europe

9,22

9,01

8,86

8,80

8,77

8,68

8,52

8,36

8,33

8,28

8,26

8,17

8,00

7,91

7,47

Policy: courts treat everyone the same

Freedoms: free and fair elections

Control: government explains its decisions to voters

Control: horizontal

Control: media provide reliable information

Policy: government protects all citizens against poverty

Policy: the rights of minority groups are protected

Control: vertical (voters)

Freedoms: opposition is free to criticise government

Freedoms: media are free to criticize government

Participation: citizens have final say in referendums

Policy: measures to reduce differences in income

Freedoms and competition: parties offer clear alternatives

Participation: immigrants can only vote being citizens

Participation: voters discuss politics before voting

Question: Please tell me how important you think it is for democracy in general...(0- not at all important for democracy in general,

10 – extremely important for democracy in general)

Вопрос: Насколько важным признаком демократии как таковой, на Ваш взгляд, является (0 – совсем не важный

признак демократии, 10 – жизненно важный)

Mean on scale from 0 to 10

9 9

Understanding Democracy in Russia

and in Europe

8,87

8,46

8,39

8,66

8,57

8,52

7,33

8,13

7,90

7,96

8,23

8,32

7,88

7,23

7,56

9,22

9,01

8,86

8,80

8,77

8,68

8,52

8,36

8,33

8,28

8,26

8,17

8,00

7,91

7,47

Policy: courts treat everyone the same

Freedoms and competition: free and fair elections

Control: the government explains its decisions to voters

Control: horizontal

Control: media provide citizens with reliable information

Policy: the government protects all citizens against poverty

Policy: the rights of minority groups are protected

Control: vertical (voters)

Freedoms, competition: opposition is free to criticise government

Freedoms, competition: media are free to criticize government

Participation: citizens have the final say voting in referendums

Policy: measures to reduce differences in income

Freedoms, competition: parties offer clear alternatives

Participation: immigrants can only vote once become citizens

Participation: voters discuss politics before voting

Russia

Europe total

10 10

Components of Democracy

6,0

7,0

8,0

9,0

10,0

Vertical

Horizontal

Government explains its decisions to voters

Media provide with reliable information to judge

government

Courts treat everyone the same

Government protects all citizens against poverty

Measures to reduce differences in income

Rights of minority groups are protected Parties offer clear alternatives

Free and fair elections

Media are free to criticize

Opposition is free to criticize

Final say in referendums

Voters discuss politics before voting

Immigrants only can vote once they become

citizens

Northern Europe Transition from socialism South Europe Western Europe Russia

CONTROL

POLICIESCOMPERITI

ON AND

FREEDOMS

PARTICIPATION

11

Differentiation of components of

Democracy

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Undiffe

rentiate

d

cate

gories (

all

item

s w

ere

rate

d e

qually

)

Very

weakly

diffe

rentiate

d

(1-2

poin

ts)

Weakly

diffe

rentiate

d

(1-3

)

Weak-m

ediu

m

(1-4

)

Mediu

m (

1-5

)

Weak-h

igh (

1-

6)

Hig

hly

diffe

rentiate

d

(1-7

)

Very

hig

hly

diffe

rentiate

d

(8+

)

Russia

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

Each component was ranked (hierarchical place among other components by the importance

for democracy), if rating of importance were equal, those components got the same rank

12

Structural relations of components:

results of factor analysis

0,40

0,50

0,60

0,70

0,80

0,90

1,00Free and fair elections

Courts treat everyone the same

Horizontal accountability (from courts)

Horizontal accountability (from voters)

Protection of all citizens against poverty

Government explains its decisions to voters

Measures to reduce differences in income

Voters discuss politics before votingParties offer clear alternatives

Opposition parties are free to criticize the

government

Media are free to criticize the government

Media provide reliable information to judge

government

Rights of minority groups are protected

Citizens have final say by voting directly in

referendums

Immigrants only get the right to vote in national

elections once they become citizens

Factor loadings on first factor before the rotation

13

Consolidation of components in

understanding democracy

% 8-10 on scale from 0 to 10 Western

Europe

Eastern

Europe Russia

Participation: voters discuss politics before voting 56 57 55

Freedoms and competition: parties offer clear alternatives 64 66 61

Policy: measures to reduce differences in income 66 72 69

Freedoms and competition: media are free to criticize the

government 70 71 64

Control: governing parties are punished in elections when

they have done a bad job 71 71 66

Freedoms and competition: opposition parties are free to

criticise the government 72 68 60

Participation: citizens have the final say on the most important

political issues by voting on them directly in referendums 69 70 68

Policy: the rights of minority groups are protected 75 68 53

Policy: the government protects all citizens against poverty 79 77 73

Control: horizontal (the courts are able to stop the

government acting beyond its authority) 78 78 73

Control: the government explains its decisions to voters 84 79 70

Control: media provide citizens with reliable information to

judge the government 80 78 75

Freedoms and competition: free and fair elections 85 81 72

Policy: the courts treat everyone the same 90 84 79

14

Conclusions

No substantial obstacles for comparative analysis of attitudes of population toward democracy or the

evaluation of democracy were found

Reasons of differences in evaluation and the satisfaction with democracy should be based on real

differences in the implementation of democratic principles in particular countries rather than on

differences in understanding this concept. Differences in expectations from democracy, results of

democracy and the speed of achievement of visible results can however play the role in explaining

differences in the satisfaction with democracy in particular countries.

From substantial rather than methodological point of view, understanding of democracy studied as

the rating of importance of different theoretical components for the notion of democracy is very similar

in different European counties. Different historical and life experience, forms of democracy (political

systems), the age of democracy, political history, traditions and culture do not influence

understanding of democracy notion (but still can influence the evaluation and expectations from

democracy)

Some differences were found in the depth of understanding of democracy notion and the level of

consolidation in society on key and periphery components of democracy. In post Soviet countries, and

in Russia in particular, understanding of democracy is less differentiated. Individual components are

often ranted the same way on importance scale. In these countries the division of components into

“core” (highly consolidated opinion about high importance of these components for democracy),

“medium important” and “peripheral in importance” is less clear than in developed democracies. In

post Soviet countries there are less public agreement, less consolidated opinion about the meaning of

democracy than in Western countries.

Russia differs from other countries by even lower differentiation of democracy components and the

lack of consolidated opinion about “core” components of democracy, weaker consensus on key

elements of the democracy than in other Post-soviet countries.

In Russia democracy is less related to the idea of minority's rights than in all other countries. It can

due to the lack of notion of consensus democracy as the way to balance interests of different groups in

the society regardless of the size of these groups, and the domination of the idea of “dictatorship of the

majority”. But it also can be related to situational factors – intensive public discussion on the issue of

“minorities” (including sexual minorities, migrants, etc.) in the recent years.

15

Evaluation of different

components of democracy

7,3

6,6

5,7

7,5

7,5

6,1

6,5

5,2

5,2

5,6

4,2

4,8

4,1

4,3

5,5

4,9

5,0

4,6

4,3

3,9

3,7

3,1

3,6

2,8

4,0

3,1

National elections in [country] are free and fair

Voters in [country] discuss politics with people they

know before deciding how to vote

Different political parties in [country] offer clear

alternatives to one another

Opposition parties in [country] are free to criticise

the government

The media in [country] are free to criticise the

government

The media in [country] provide citizens with reliable

information to judge the government

The rights of minority groups in [country] are

protected

Citizens in [country] have the final say on the most

important political issues by voting on them directly

The courts in [country] treat everyone the same

Governing parties in [country] are punished in

elections when they have done a bad job

The government in [country] protects all citizens

against poverty

The government in [country] explains its decisions

to voters

The government in [country] takes measures to

reduce differences in income levels

Europe total

Russia

(mean on scale from 0 to 10), ESS 2012

16

Evaluation of democracy

components

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

National elections in [country] are free and fair

Voters in [country] discuss politics w ith people

they know before deciding how to vote

Different political parties in [country] offer clear

alternatives to one another

Opposition parties in [country] are free to criticise

the government

The media in [country] are free to criticise the

government

The media in [country] provide citizens w ith reliable

information to judge the government

The rights of minority groups in [country] are

protected

Citizens in [country] have the f inal say on the most

important political issues by voting on them directly

in referendums

The courts in [country] treat everyone the same

Governing parties in [country] are punished in

elections w hen they have done a bad job

The government in [country] protects all citizens

against poverty

The government in [country] explains its decisions

to voters

The government in [country] takes measures to

reduce differences in income levels

Northern Europe Transition from socialism South Europe Western Europe Russia

(mean on scale from 0 to 10), ESS 2012