Supplementary Information
Democratic Scepticism and Political Participation in Europe
Jeffrey A. Karp
Australian
National University
Caitlin Milazzo
University
of Nottingham
Figure 1 displays voter turnout from
the most recent national parliamentary elections in Europe.[1]
The average turnout across Europe is 63 per cent. Yet, turnout in Eastern
Europe is far lower. On average, turnout in Western Europe is 71 per cent,
compared to 56 per cent in the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe. With
the exception of Greece, France, Portugal, and Switzerland, turnout in Western
elections is generally higher than the average turnout. However, of the post-communist
elections, only Estonia, Slovenia, and Belarus, have above average
turnout. Thus, it is clear that
turnout is much lower in the post-communist region than in the rest of Europe,
even after nearly two decades of elections.
Figure 1. Voter Turnout in European National
Elections
Notes.
Data are taken from www.electionresources.org.
Figure 2 shows the
relationship between the proportion of Ôdemo-scepticsÕ
and those who are dissatisfied with democratic performance in each of the 22
countries in our sample. The countries with the largest proportion of citizens
who are sceptical about democracy also have the
highest proportions of citizens who are dissatisfied with democratic
performance. With the exception of Italy, all of these are post-communist
countries. Although there appears to be a strong relationship between
orientations toward democracy and attitudes about democratic performance, there
are some cases where a gap exists. The most obvious case is Albania, where many
citizens prefer democratic institutions, but a large proportion remains
dissatisfied with the way democracy works in practice. This may be an extreme
case where a Òdemocratic deficitÓ exists between democratic aspirations and
satisfaction with performance which may be the result of some combination of
growing public expectations, negative news, and or failing government
performance (Norris 2011, 5).
Overall though the pattern observed in Figure 2 suggests that there is a
relationship between attitudes about democratic institutions and evaluations of
democratic performance, which challenges the common view that has assumed that
there is no relationship between these attitudes.
Figure 2. Percentage of Respondents Expressing Scepticism
about Democracy and
Dissatisfaction with Democratic Performance
The
sample of election studies in Eastern Europe include Albania (2005), Bulgaria
(2001), Czech Republic (2002), Hungary (2002), Poland (2001), Romania (2004), Russia
(2004), and Slovenia (2004). Election studies in established democracies
include Switzerland (2003). Germany (2002), Spain (2004), Finland (2003),
France (2002), Ireland (2002), Britain (2005), Italy (2006), Netherlands
(2002), Norway (2001), and Portugal (2002, 2005) and Sweden (2002). Portugal is the only
country in the sample to have administered Module 2 in two different election
studies.
Table A1 below reports the scale and the
mean values for all of the variables used in the analysis.
Appendix
Table A1:
Mean Values for All Variables
|
Variables |
Scale |
All |
West |
East |
|
Age (in 10s of years) |
1.8-10.2 |
4.71 |
4.68 |
4.77 |
|
Democratic Scepticism |
0-3 |
0.69 |
0.59 |
0.94 |
|
Democratic Performance |
0-3 |
1.44 |
1.30 |
1.75 |
|
Distance from Median Voter |
0-6 |
1.85 |
1.75 |
2.10 |
|
Eastern Europe |
0-1 |
0.32 |
0.00 |
1.00 |
|
Female |
0-1 |
0.52 |
0.51 |
0.55 |
|
Government Job Approval |
0-3 |
1.41 |
1.48 |
1.28 |
|
Ideology (Left) |
0-1 |
0.23 |
0.23 |
0.24 |
|
Ideology (Right) |
0-1 |
0.29 |
0.29 |
0.32 |
|
Income (Low) |
0-1 |
0.19 |
0.18 |
0.20 |
|
Income (High) |
0-1 |
0.17 |
0.16 |
0.19 |
|
Married |
0-1 |
0.64 |
0.64 |
0.63 |
|
Margin of Victory (Largest Party) |
.2-28.36 |
9.30 |
8.29 |
11.51 |
|
Party Contact |
0-1 |
0.19 |
0.21 |
0.13 |
|
Party Preference |
0-10 |
7.77 |
7.71 |
7.91 |
|
Perceptions of Corruption |
0-3 |
1.87 |
1.63 |
2.41 |
|
University Degree |
0-1 |
0.15 |
0.17 |
0.16 |
|
Voter Turnout (Weighted) |
0-1 |
0.68 |
0.73 |
0.59 |