How Europeans View and Evaluate Democracy

In 2012 How Europeans View and Evaluate Democracy assessed the Europeans' views and evaluations of the state of democracy after one of the deepest economic and financial crises worldwide. Against the most pessimistic “Zeitgeist,” the book found that there was overwhelming support for democracy in Europe, even if the breadth and scope of the citizens' demands for their democratic systems varied within and between countries. Importantly, with very few exceptions, the implementation of the basic democratic principle of free and fair elections was well-evaluated across Europe. However, analysis also showed that there was room for improvement in many countries, according to the citizens' evaluations. Overall, in 2012, there were no symptoms of a democratic crisis in Europe.

Ten years and several crises later, the authors reassess how Europeans view and evaluate democracy, and that many changes that have occurred in the meantime. This book, How Europeans View and Evaluate Democracy Revisited, compares how Europeans view and evaluate democracy in 2021-22 and in 2012 based on surveys in 24 European countries. It shows that Europeans continue to be attached to democratic ideals and that they continue to be rather dissatisfied with the way these ideals are implemented in their country. The liberal-democratic model continues to enjoy great support, just as it did a decade ago, and there is also support for additional models of democracy - for social, direct, and populist democracy. Surprisingly, the populist model turns out to be a complement rather than a substitute for the other models.


Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterized by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu.

The series is edited by Nicole Bolleyer, Chair of Comparative Political Science, Geschwister Scholl Institut, LMU Munich and Jonathan Slapin, Professor of Political Institutions and European Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Zurich.

Mónica Ferrín, Associate professor, University of A Coruña,Hanspeter Kriesi, Part-time professor, European University Institute

Mónica Ferrín is an associate professor at University of A Coruña (Spain). She worked previously at Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin and at the University of Zurich. Her main fields of research are public opinion, political participation and gender inequality in the public sphere.


Hanspeter Kriesi is a part-time professor for Comparative Politics at the European University Institute in Florence. Previously, he held the Stein-Rokkan Chair at this university, as well as positions at the universities of Amsterdam, Geneva, and Zurich. 2017, he received the Mattei-Dogan Prize, and in 2022, honorary doctorates from the University of Lucerne and the Mid-Sweden University in Sundsvall. Together with colleagues from the LSE and the University of Milano he is currently working on an ERC Synergy project on the impact of the multiple crises on the resilience of the European Union.

1. Introduction, Mónica Ferrín and Hanspeter Kriesi2. The challenges of repeat measurement in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruxandra Comanaru and Rory FitzgeraldPart I: Views of democracy3. Stability and change in Europeans' views of democracy, Enrique Hernández4. Populism as an alternative model of democracy: measuring and profiling the supporters of the populist model, Mónica Ferrín and Levente Littvay5. Stability and change in the structure of Europeans' views of democracy, Hanspeter Kriesi6. The correlates of European citizens' views of democracy, Besir Ceka and Pedro C. Magalhães7. Changes in Europeans' evaluations of democracy, Claudia Landwehr and Armin SchäferPart II: evaluations of democracy8. The evaluation of democratic performance from a comparative longitudinal perspective, Mariano Torcal and Alexander H. Trechsel9. The relationship between views and evaluations of democracy, Irene Palacios10. Stability and change - legitimacy and populism, Bernhard WesselsPart III: Additional questions going beyond views and evaluations11. Support for democracy and support for autocracy: two sides of the same coin?, Sergio Martini12. Political legitimacy and satisfaction with democracy in Europe, Micha? Kotnarowski, Rados?aw Markowski13. Democratic views and voting behavior, Mónica Ferrín, Enrique Hernández and Pedro Riera14. Conclusion: For Europeans, democracy is alright, Dietlind Stolle