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Does Public Support Help Democracy Survive?

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  • Christopher Claassen

Abstract

It is widely believed that democracy requires public support to survive. The empirical evidence for this hypothesis is weak, however, with existing tests resting on small cross‐sectional samples and producing contradictory results. The underlying problem is that survey measures of support for democracy are fragmented across time, space, and different survey questions. In response, this article uses a Bayesian latent variable model to estimate a smooth country‐year panel of democratic support for 135 countries and up to 29 years. The article then demonstrates a positive effect of support on subsequent democratic change, while adjusting for the possible confounding effects of prior levels of democracy and unobservable time‐invariant factors. Support is, moreover, more robustly linked with the endurance of democracy than its emergence in the first place. As Lipset (1959) and Easton (1965) hypothesized over 50 years ago, public support does indeed help democracy survive.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Claassen, 2020. "Does Public Support Help Democracy Survive?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(1), pages 118-134, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:64:y:2020:i:1:p:118-134
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12452
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lourdes Rojas Rubio, 2022. "Political Culture and Democratisation," THEMA Working Papers 2022-17, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    2. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," THEMA Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    3. Joël Cariolle & Yasmine Elkhateeb & Mathilde Maurel, 2022. "(Mis-)information technology: Internet use and perception of democracy in Africa," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 22010, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    4. Konstantin Gavras & Jan Karem Höhne & Annelies G. Blom & Harald Schoen, 2022. "Innovating the collection of open‐ended answers: The linguistic and content characteristics of written and oral answers to political attitude questions," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(3), pages 872-890, July.
    5. Jennifer Oser & Marc Hooghe & Zsuzsa Bakk & Roberto Mari, 2023. "Changing citizenship norms among adolescents, 1999-2009-2016: A two-step latent class approach with measurement equivalence testing," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 4915-4933, October.
    6. Acemoglu, Daron & Ajzenman, Nicolas & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Fiszbein, Martin & Molina, Carlos, 2021. "(Successful) Democracies Breed Their Own Support," IZA Discussion Papers 14691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Mousseau, Michael & Mousseau, Demet Yalcin, 2023. "The rise of contract-intensive economic structures and democratic development: Are they related?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 273-285.
    8. Ji, Chengyuan & Jiang, Junyan & Zhang, Yujin, 2024. "Political trust and government performance in the time of COVID-19," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).

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