Citizenship norms or behavior? unpacking political culture variables in an age of democratic backsliding

Abstract

This study aims to identify whether it is citizenship norms or civic behaviors that provide stronger motivations for political participation across new democracies. Studies on political culture have identified the degree of internalization of democratic citizenship norms and behaviors as critical to understanding the strength and nature of democracy and its institutions. And the degree of internalization has often been associated with the duration of and degree of experience with democratic rule, distinguishing between new and old democracies. However, how new are new democracies? Huntington starts the Third Wave of Democratization with the Revolution of Carnations in Portugal in 1974, and he declares the ex-communist countries’ democratic transition, by early 1990s, as the last phase of the Third Wave. Hence five decades have passed since the start of the Third Wave, and three decades have been democratic rule for these ex-communist states. When compared with the earlier waves of democratization, these countries are still considered new democracies. Given the substantial time period since the first moment of democratization across these countries, it is timely to analyze the extent to which democratic norms and behaviors are internalized and influential on democratic political participation. Our study utilizes the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 2014 Citizenship module for its analysis, and it focuses on two major participation variables: voting and protest. Voting relates to conventional participation, characterized as acts expected of the citizen and generally delineated by state institutions such as the electoral system or political party participation. The second form of civic action, protest, is considered as unconventional participation, acts generally set beyond these state institutions. The practice of both types of participation matters for democratic institutionalization. Citizenship norms and civic behaviors constitute the study’s major independent variables, while the study controls for countries’ socio-economic well-being and political features via a multi-level regression analysis. In addition to examining whether norms or civic behaviors provide stronger motivations for political participation we explore the level of norm internalization across new democracies. We observe whether there are different levels of influence of norms and behavior for different types of political participation. And last but not least, we investigate whether there are country clusters where the weight of norms and behaviors vary significantly. These questions matter for political culture studies, which try to understand how norms and behaviors relate to democracy and its institutions. They are particularly relevant at our present time of democratic sliding and rising populism. Absent citizens’ internalization of democratic citizenship norms and behaviors, democratic institutions may prove more vulnerable vis-a-vis populist rhetoric and action. Given this importance of sustaining and enhancing democratic citizenship acts, it is key to understand the extent to which new democracies have internalized democratic norms or behaviors, and how each shapes the potential for democratic participation after three decade of democratic government in these states.