Democracy And Political Culture in Eastern Europe

by Klingemann; Hans-Dieter

• ISBN13: 9780415386029
• ISBN10: 0415386020
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-19
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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-levelrelationships 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.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction: support for democracy and autocracy in eastern Europe	1	(22)
HANS-DIETER KLINGEMANN, DIETER FUCHS, SUSANNE FUCHS AND JAN ZIELONKA
PART I Comparative perspectives	23	(76)
1 Democratic communities in Europe: a comparison between East and West	25	(42)
DIETER FUCHS AND HANS-DIETER KLINGEMANN
2 East European value systems in global perspective	67	(18)
RONALD INGLEHART
3 Historical and cultural borderlines in eastern Europe	85	(16)
GABRIEL BADESCU
PART II National perspectives	99	(280)
4 The Czech Republic: critical democrats and the persistence of democratic values	101	(18)
ZDENKA MANSFELDOVÁ
5 Slovenia in central Europe: merely meteorological or a value kinship?	119	(29)
VLADO MIHELJAK
6 Hungary: structure and dynamics of democratic consolidation	148	(24)
CHRISTIAN W. HAERPFER
7 Slovakia: pathways to a democratic community	172	(31)
SILVIA MIHALIKOVA
8 Poland: citizens and democratic politics	203	(32)
RENATA SIEMIENSKA
9 Latvia: democracy as an abstract value	235	(21)
ILZE KOROLEVA AND RITMA RUNGULE
10 Lithuania: civic society and democratic orientation	256	(21)
RASA ALISAUSKIENE
11 Estonia: changing value patterns in a divided society	277	(31)
MIKK TITMA AND ANDU RÄMMER
12 Romania: fatalistic political cultures revisited	308	(28)
ALINA NIUNGIL-PIPPIDI
13 Bulgaria: democratic orientations in support of civil society	336	(19)
ANDREA RAICHEV AND ANTONY TODOROV
14 Russia, Belarus and Ukraine: construction of democratic communities	355	(24)
ELENA BASHKIROVA
Bibliography	379	(10)
Index	389