Democracy And Political Culture In Eastern Europe

Description:
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.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Support for Democracy and Autocracy in Eastern Europe "Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Dieter Fuchs, Susanne Fuchs, and Jan Zielonka" Part I Comparative Perspectives Chapter 1 Democratic Communities in Europe: A Comparison between East and West "Dieter Fuchs and Hans-Dieter Klingemann" Chapter 2 East European Value Systems in Global Perspective "Ronald Inglehart" Chapter 3 Historical and Cultural Borderlines in Eastern Europe "Gabriel Badescu" Part II National Perspectives Chapter 4 The Czech Republic: Critical Democrats and the Persistence of Democratic Values "Zdenka Mansfeldova" Chapter 5 Slovenia in Central Europe: Merely Meteorological or a Value Kinship? "Vlado Miheljak" Chapter 6 Hungary: Structure and Dynamics of Democratic Consolidation "Christian W. Haerpfer" Chapter 7 Slovakia: Pathways to a Democratic Community "Silvia Mihalikova" Chapter 8 Poland: Citizens and Democratic Politics "Renata Siemienska" Chapter 9 Latvia: Democracy as an Abstract Value "Ilze Koroleva and Ritma Rungule" Chapter 10 Lithuania: Civic Society and Democratic Orientation" Rasa Alisauskiene" Chapter 11 Estonia: Changing Value Patterns in a Divided Society "Mikk Titma and Andu Raemmer" Chapter 12 Romania: Fatalistic Political Cultures Revisited "Alina Mungiu-Pippidi" Chapter 13 Bulgaria: Democratic Orientations in Support of Civil Society "Andrei Raichev and Antony Todorov" Chapter 14 Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine: Construction of Democratic Communities "Elena Bashkirova" Bibliography

Author Biography:
Free University Berlin, Germany University of Stuttgart, Germany University of Oxford, UK