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Based on a new data-set covering 29 European and neighboring countries, this volume shows how, Europeans view and evaluate democracy: what are their conceptions of democracy, how do they assess the quality of democracy in their own country, and to what extent do they consider their country´s democracy as legitimate? The study shows that Europeans share a common view of liberal democracy, which is complemented by elements of social and direct democracy, which go beyond the basic liberal model. The level of their demands in terms of democracy varies, however, considerably across Europe and is related to their assessment of democracy: the worse the quality of democracy in a given country, the higher the respective demands on democracy. The analysis of the determinants of democratic views and evaluations shows that they depend on the political and economic (but less on the cultural) context conditions.
Comparative Politics is a series for students, teachers, and researchers of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu.
The Comparative Politics series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Universite libre de Bruxelles; Ferdinand Muller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston.



Table of Contents:

1: Monica Ferrin and Hanspeter Kriesi: Introduction: Democracy - the Verdict of the Europeans
2: Lizzy Winstone, Sally Widdop, and Rory Fitzgerald: Constructing the Questionnaire: the Challenges of Measuring Views and Evaluations of Democracy Across Europe
Part I: Views of Democracy in Europe
3: Enrique Hernandez Perez: Europeans´ Views of Democracy: the Core Elements of Democracy
4: Hanspeter Kriesi, Willem Saris, and Paolo Moncagatta: The Structure of Europeans´ Views of Democracy: Citizens´ Models of Democracy
5: Besir Ceka and Pedro C. Magalhaes: The Determinants of Citizens´ views of Democracy
6: Mark Franklin and Pedro Riera: Types of Liberal Democracy and Generational Shifts: How Citizens´ Views of Democracy Differ Across Generational Cohorts
7: Sonia Alonso: What Type of Democratic Commitment Lies Behind the Importance of Living in a Democracy?
Part II: Evaluations of European Democracies
8: Braulio Gomez and Irene Palacios: Citizens´ Evaluations of Democracy. A Microscope with Quality Seal
9: Hanspeter Kriesi and Willem Saris: The Structure of the Evaluation of Democracy
10: Mariano Torcal and Alexander H. Trechsel: Explaining Citizens´ Evaluations of Democracy
Part III: Legitimacy of European Democracies
11: Bernhard Wessels: Democratic Legitimacy: Concepts, Measures, Outcomes
12: Radoslaw Markowski: Determinants of Democratic Legitimacy: Liberal Democracy and Social Justice
13: Monica Ferrin: An Empirical Assessment of Satisfaction with Democracy
14: Hanspeter Kriesi and Leonardo Morlino: Conclusion