Economic crisis and attitudes towards democracy: How ideology moderates reactions to economic downturns Articles uri icon

publication date

  • August 2021

volume

  • 97

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2673-3145

abstract

  • This paper studies the extent to which economic crises bust different reactions depending
    on individual ideological identity. Our argument is that individual left-right identification
    shapes how citizens evaluate the functioning of democracy, and consequently, it
    moderates the impact of economic crises on democratic discontent. We argue that
    left-wing individuals" views on democratic performance would be more heavily affected by
    economic results and strongly shaped by the (in)capacity of a democracy to represent its
    citizens in its reaction to the economic crisis. After testing our argument with data from the
    ESS, we provide evidence from a survey experiment conducted in Spain. Both analyses
    show that economic crises are relevant in explaining democratic dissatisfaction, but the
    strength of their impact depends on ideological identities. Economic results have a
    stronger effect on the satisfaction with democracy of left-wing individuals by negatively
    affecting their perception of the functioning of democratic representation.

subjects

  • Politics
  • Sociology

keywords

  • left-right ideology; satisfaction with democracy; attitudes towards democracy; european crisis; spain