Browsing by Subject "Democratic attitudes"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    A crisis of social democracy in Europe? An answer for the citizens' perspective.
    (Sage Journals, 2022-08-22) Palacios Brihuega, Irene; Ciencia Política, Antropología Social y Hacienda Pública; Facultades de la UMU::Facultad de Derecho
    This article analyses the public support for the social model of democracy by focusing on the gap between what citizens expect democracy to deliver in the social realm and how they do evaluate its achievement in the practice. Using data from the European Social Survey Round 6 (2012), the results reveal that individuals with a lower socio-economic background, those positioned on the left and those who are more distrustful of political institutions tend to be more supportive of social democracy, while they evaluate its performance more negatively. The data also demonstrate that individuals’ social expectations and evaluations are moderated by their country’s institutional configuration of the welfare state, and more particularly, its degree of universalism. Overall, the results support the intuition that the alleged crisis of social democracy does not exist generally across Europe, but only in those countries where the welfare state has been unable to close the gap between expectations and evaluations.
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    How democratic backsliding and populism affect trust in democratic institutions
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2025-04-30) Palacios Brihuega, Irene; Ciencia Política, Antropología Social y Hacienda Pública; Facultades de la UMU::Facultad de Derecho
    In recent decades, there is a widespread perception that we are witnessing a period of confluent crises that are putting world democracies under strain. On the one hand, there is an apparent wave of democratic backsliding at the global level, characterized by gradual loss of democratic quality, weakening checks on executive power, and rising pernicious polarization, among others. On the other hand, populist leaders with illiberal leanings are grabbing power in both democratic and non-democratic regimes. Besides this, citizens seem to be more willing to tolerate undemocratic behaviours, which has been seen as a clear symptom of a crisis of democratic confidence. By combining a global dataset on individuals’ democratic attitudes and vote choice with macro-level data on populist/non-populist incumbents and democratic backsliding, this article investigates voters’ reactions to backsliding in contexts where incumbents are reasonably expected to commit backsliding (i.e. populist-led regimes) and contexts where backsliding is unlikely to unfold - but it (sometimes) occurs (i.e. non-populist-led regimes). Its main findings indicate that non-populist supporters in backsliding scenarios led by populist incumbents may shape as a resilient force to protect pluralistic democratic institutions, as they reinforce their confidence in both parliaments and political parties as backsliding becomes persistent.
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    How polarization, populist attitudes, and cultural backlash affect citizens' support for democracy: evidence from Spain
    (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2025-02-04) Palacios Brihuega, Irene; Garrido, Antonio (Garrido Rubia); Martínez, Antonia (Martínez Rodríguez); Ciencia Política, Antropología Social y Hacienda Pública; Facultades de la UMU::Facultad de Derecho
    In recent years, substantial scholarly attention has been devoted to understanding the consequences of three increasing phenomena on democratic legitimacy: populism, polarization, and cultural backlash. While the literature has widely acknowledged the common roots of the three phenomena and the way they mutually influence each other, little is known about their empirical relationship at the attitudinal level. Using data from Spain, this article examines whether and how affective polarization, populist attitudes, and cultural backlash values are connected to citizens’ attitudes, and the extent to which they affect support for democracy as the best form of government. The results indicate that holding consistently populist views, conservative cultural values, and being affectively polarized is particularly harmful for democracy when this attitudinal pattern is maintained by younger individuals. We discuss the implications that socialization in democratic environments marked by frequent populist rhetoric and rising polarization might have on younger generations’ democratic commitment. -----------