scholarly journals Satisfaction With Democracy: When Government by the People Brings Electoral Losers and Winners Together

2021 ◽  
pp. 001041402110243
Author(s):  
Lucas Leemann ◽  
Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Do So

The last decade has witnessed the rise of populist parties and a number of actors that question liberal democracy. Many explanations of this rely on dissatisfied citizens. We ask in this article whether and how institutions allowing citizens to participate in policy-making affect differences in democratic satisfaction within varying representative contexts as well as between electoral winners and losers. To do so, we first develop a measure of sub-national direct democracy and then use it together with extensive survey data to investigate how direct democracy is associated with citizens’ evaluation of their democratic system. We conclude that direct democracy is not generally related to more satisfied people but rather closes the “satisfaction-gap” between electoral winners and losers. In contrast to previous research, we demonstrate that this mechanism holds across different representative systems.

The People and the Constitution

2018 ◽  
pp. 46-74
Author(s):  
Roman David ◽  
Ian Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Constitutional System

Myanmar’s transition is taking place within a constitutional setting devised by the preceding junta and reflecting a military reading of rule by the people, termed discipline-flourishing democracy. This chapter examines the extent to which the country’s constitutional system is an obstacle to greater democratization, the degree to which its institutions are viewed by the public as legitimate, and the intensity with which the public demands deeper political change. First, it traces the roots of constitutionalism in Myanmar. Second, it evaluates fundamental aspects of the current constitution, focusing on provisions for majority rule and a separation of powers. Third, it draws on survey data to investigate popular assessments of the transitional political system and aspirations for democracy. Fourth, it assesses prescribed methods for forming the legislature, and uses a survey experiment to isolate popular preferences for generating an assembly fitting standards of liberal democracy, hybridity, and military rule. Finally, it turns to the executive and explores perceptions of constitutional restrictions imposed on the presidency.

Secularisation, R.I.P.? Nonsense! The ‘Rush Hour Away from the Gods’ and the Decline of Religion in Contemporary Japan

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Reader
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Japanese Case ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Do So ◽  
Religious Decline

Abstract Sociologists of religion such as Rodney Stark and José Casanova have pronounced secularisation theories to be dead or a ‘myth,’ and in so doing they have often cited Japan as an example of the vigour of religion in the modern world. This article refutes their claims by examining the contemporary Japanese religious situation and showing that, far from being vibrant, religion, whether organised, institutional, or related to popular and folk practices, is in decline. It draws on extensive survey data to show that levels of faith, adherence and practice have decreased significantly, and that they do so especially in conjunction with rising levels of urbanisation and education—two conditions identified in secularisation theory as associated with religious decline. The study examines counter-claims that some areas (notably pilgrimage and ‘spirituality’) are growing in Japan, and shows that the reverse is true. Pilgrimages are losing support while there is evidence that the ‘turn to spirituality’—cited by some scholars as a replacement for organised religion—has petered out in Japan. Thus there is a strong secularising tendency in Japan that refutes the claims of those who wish to bury secularisation theory; as the Japanese case shows, it remains a potent force in the modern world.

Popular Perceptions of Democracy

1998 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAN OTTEMOELLER
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Full Range ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Democratic Attitudes ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Range Of Values

This essay examines the potential for liberal democracy in Uganda by analyzing four sources: (a) results of recent national elections, (b) survey data about how Ugandans define democracy, (c) survey data about Ugandans' democratic attitudes, and, in a more theoretical vein, (d) Guillermo O'Donnell's notion of “informally institutionalized” polyarchy. Most of the survey data suggest that Ugandans hold democratic attitudes that should support a liberal democratic system. However, election results, as well as a survey of popular definitions of democracy, suggest that Ugandans do not endorse the full range of values associated with liberal democracy. O'Donnell's description of informally institutionalized polyarchy as a semiliberal form of democracy aids our conceptualization of democracy in Uganda. The essay concludes that the definition of democracy is, and is likely to remain, a contested issue in Ugandan politics.

Elections in Non-Democracies*.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgy Egorov ◽  
Konstantin Sonin
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Fraud ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
High Level ◽  
Do So ◽  
Ordinary Citizens

Abstract Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of a democratic system, but elections are common in other regimes as well. Such an election might be a pure farce, with the incumbents getting close to 100% of the vote. In other instances, incumbents allow opposition candidates to be on the ballot and run campaigns, limit electoral fraud, e.g., by inviting international observers, all to make elections appear fair. In our model, the incumbent is informed about his popularity, and having a fair election allows him to signal his popularity to the people. After casting their vote, heterogeneous citizens decide whether or not to participate in a protest, and they are more willing to do so if they expect others to protest as well. We demonstrate theoretically that regimes that have a high level of elite repression are less likely to have fair elections, but regimes with a high cost of protesting for ordinary citizens make fair elections more likely.

The Politics of Direct Democracy: Referendums in Global Perspective.

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 502-504
Author(s):  
Leonard Preyra
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The State ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right

The Politics of Direct Democracy: Referendums in Global Perspective., Lawrence LeDuc., Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview. 2003, pp. 214.The 1980s marked a watershed in the evolution of liberal democracy. On the global front the principles of liberal democracy were successfully used as battering rams to demolish the walls erected by its powerful Cold War rival—socialism. Our side declared victory and the end of ideological conflict. And yet in its struggle with socialism liberal democracy planted the seeds for its own transformation—it was hoist with its own petard. A new consensus emerged. Our elections were also a sham, parties provided little or no meaningful choice, and legislators were unrepresentative, unresponsive and unaccountable. On major constitutional and moral issues there was gridlock. From the left came calls for “people power” and more inclusive and empowering institutions. From the right came calls for privatizing the State and reducing the autonomy of elected officials and the “special interests” who controlled it. Enter the referendum as a way of addressing this “democratic deficit.” Why not let the people decide?

Where Democrats Disagree: Citizens’ Normative Conceptions of Democracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 786-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Landwehr ◽  
Nils D Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Personality Styles ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Regime Support

While support for the essential norms of liberal electoral democracy is high in almost all developed democracies, there is arguably also a gap between democratic aspirations and democratic practice, leading to dissatisfaction among citizens. We argue that citizens may hold very different normative conceptions of democracy which are equally compatible with support for liberal democracy, but lead to different expectations where institutional design and democratic practice are concerned. Satisfaction with democracy may thus depend on congruence between such normative conceptions and institutionally entrenched norms. Drawing on survey data from Germany with a comprehensive item battery on attitudes towards democratic decision-making, we identify four distinct factors leading to disagreements over democratic decision-making. We explore how these are related to personality, styles of cognition and political attitudes, and show that different expectations arise from them, such that regime support is affected by the normative conception(s) of democratic decision-making individuals subscribe to.

scholarly journals Eurasian Demotia: Formation of the Concept of Self-government

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-364
Author(s):  
Andrey V. Shabaga
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Harmonious Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Important Principle ◽  
The People ◽  
Theoretical Significance ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Constructive Criticism ◽  
Ways Of Being

The article examines one of the key concepts of the Eurasianists - demotia. Despite its theoretical significance, the concept of demotia, like many other Eurasian concepts, has not been developed in detail. Meanwhile, demotia, as a concept proposing new principles of self-government, is of special interest and still has a certain practical potential. In Russia, the introduction of the beginnings of local self-government is associated with the Great Reforms of Alexander II. However, the acquired rights were deemed insufficient. Of the constructive criticism of reforms in the sphere of self-government, the most consistent was the theory of A.I. Herzen (communal socialism). It was in it that the Eurasians saw the basis for the future organization of the Eurasian space, which received its form in the concept of demotia. The article examines the views of a number of Eurasians on demotia. According to their views, demotia is the most important principle of self-government, which implements the method of organic representation of the people at all levels of government (N.N. Alekseev); being a Eurasian demotic system - ί, it is fundamentally different from the Western democratic - ί (Ya.D. Sadovsky). They also pointed to the political homogeneity of the demotic system, which was seen as a huge advantage over the multiparty democratic system of the West (N.S. Trubetskoy). As a result of the study, it is concluded that demotia was a necessary part of the ideocracy-demotia construct, actively promoted in the works of the Eurasians, as a project to create a truly classless and harmonious society. Demotia combines the idea of the Eurasian nationality (the circle of traditional ideas of the Eurasian peoples) and the principle of direct democracy, which reconciles the idea of an ethnos as a people as a whole with its traditional ideas and specific ways of being and the idea of a demos as a political people.

Delicate Years: Children and Identity in Zimbabwean Literature

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephine Muganiwa
Keyword(s):  
Growing Up ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Child Characters ◽  
The People ◽  
Do So

The paper argues that children face challenges in growing up and fitting into their societies and that these challenges need to be addressed with care. These challenges, which are complicated by the effects of colonialism, war and economic crises in the context of Zimbabwe, are portrayed in the novels Nervous Conditions (Dangarembga 1989), The Book of Not (Dangarembga 2006), The Uncertainty of Hope (Tagwira 2006) and Running with Mother (Mlalazi 2012). In analysing the characters of the children portrayed in these four novels, the vulnerability of children, regardless of their age, is demonstrated. The child characters strive to help their parents and be useful citizens and yet at times this contrasts with their desire to be sheltered and treated as children. This contradiction is best exhibited in teenagers who try to fashion their own identity that is separate from the people around them but who still require guidance to do so.

The Challenge of Mass Democracy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Schupmann
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
The State ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
The People ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Mass Democracy

Chapter 1 analyzes Schmitt’s assessment of democratic movements in Weimar and the gravity of their effects on the state and constitution. It emphasizes that the focus of Schmitt’s criticism of Weimar was mass democracy rather than liberalism. Schmitt warned that the combination of mass democracy, the interpenetration of state and society, and the emergence of total movements opposed to liberal democracy, namely the Nazis and the Communists, were destabilizing the Weimar state and constitution. Weimar, Schmitt argued, had been designed according to nineteenth century principles of legitimacy and understandings of the people. Under the pressure of mass democracy, the state was buckling and cannibalizing itself and its constitution. Despite this, Schmitt argued, Weimar jurists’ theoretical commitments left them largely unable to recognize the scope of what was occurring. Schmitt’s criticism of Weimar democracy was intended to raise awareness of how parliamentary democracy could be turned against the state and constitution.

Populism and Liberal Democracy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takis S. Pappas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
The People ◽  
Original Definition ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Great Relevance ◽  
Definition Of

Based on an original definition of modern populism as “democratic illiberalism” and many years of meticulous research, Takis Pappas marshals extraordinary empirical evidence from Argentina, Greece, Peru, Italy, Venezuela, Ecuador, Hungary, the United States, Spain, and Brazil to develop a comprehensive theory about populism. He addresses all key issues in the debate about populism and answers significant questions of great relevance for today’s liberal democracy, including: • What is modern populism and how can it be differentiated from comparable phenomena like nativism and autocracy? • Where in Latin America has populism become most successful? Where in Europe did it emerge first? Why did its rise to power in the United States come so late? • Is Trump a populist and, if so, could he be compared best with Venezuela’s Chávez, France’s Le Pens, or Turkey’s Erdoğan? • Why has populism thrived in post-authoritarian Greece but not in Spain? And why in Argentina and not in Brazil? • Can populism ever succeed without a charismatic leader? If not, what does leadership tell us about how to challenge populism? • Who are “the people” who vote for populist parties, how are these “made” into a group, and what is in their minds? • Is there a “populist blueprint” that all populists use when in power? And what are the long-term consequences of populist rule? • What does the expansion, and possibly solidification, of populism mean for the very nature and future of contemporary democracy? Populism and Liberal Democracy will change the ways the reader understands populism and imagines the prospects of liberal democracy.

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