What is the relationship between democracy and political culture in countries undergoing major systemic change? Have subjective political orientations of citizens been important in shaping the development of democracy in central and eastern Europe after the fall of communism? These core questions are tackled by an impressive range of twenty political scientists, sixteen of which are based in the central and eastern European countries covered in this essential new book. Their analyses draw on a unique set of data collected and processed by the contributors to this volume within the framework of the World Values Survey project. This data enables these authors to establish similarities and differences in support of democracy between a large number of countries with different cultural and structural conditions as well as historical legacies. The macro-level findings of the book tend to support the proposition that support of democracy declines the further east one goes. In contrast, micro-level relationships have been found to be astonishingly similar. For example, support of democracy is always positively related to higher levels of education – no matter where an individual citizen happens to live. This new book builds a clear understanding of what makes democracies strong and resistant to autocratic temptation.
Author(s): Klingemann;fuch
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 416
Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Series-Title......Page 3
Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Contributors......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
Introduction: Support for democracy and autocracy in central and eastern Europe......Page 14
Part I Comparative perspectives......Page 36
1 Democratic communities in Europe: A comparison between East and West......Page 38
2 East European value systems in global perspective......Page 80
3 Historical and cultural borderlines in eastern Europe......Page 98
Part II National perspectives......Page 112
4 The Czech Republic: Critical democrats and the persistence of democratic values......Page 114
5 Slovenia in central Europe: Merely meterological or a value kinship?......Page 132
6 Hungary: Structure and dynamics of democratic consolidation......Page 161
7 Slovakia: Pathways to a democratic community......Page 185
8 Poland: Citizens and democratic politics......Page 216
9 Latvia: Democracy as an abstract value......Page 248
10 Lithuania: Civic society and democratic orientation......Page 269
11 Estonia: Changing value patterns in a divided society......Page 290
12 Romania: Fatalistic political cultures revisited......Page 321
13 Bulgaria: Democratic orientations in support of civil society......Page 349
14 Russia, Belarus and Ukraine: Construction of democratic communities......Page 368
Bibliography......Page 392
Index......Page 402
