Regime Legitimacy in Times of Economic Crisis: The Robustness of Individual and Contextual Correlates of Satisfaction with Democracy

The recent global financial crisis has led to a severe economic slowdown. In the EU, the global crisis coupled with the Sovereign Debt crisis, resulted in significant drops in economic volume, varying between countries. One central measure of system support often employed in comparative analyzes is citizens' satisfaction with the way democracy functions in their country. This indicator was repeatedly found associated with economic output as well as with other discrete salient predictors. Notwithstanding the importance of these findings, it is still unclear whether these correlates remain significant across changing economic context. Furthermore, since most studies employ data pertaining to a single unit-of-analysis (i.e. individuals or countries), the multi-level dynamics of these associations are still to be estimated.

Therefore, we aim to, first, model regime legitimacy and assess its multi-level predictors, employing data on individuals, parties, institutional arrangements and political representation, including 27 EU Member States. Second, we will determine the extent to which the severity of the economic crises affects the associations between salient predictors of regime legitimacy and satisfaction with democracy. Our findings suggest that by-and-large, there is evidence to support both hypotheses. Furthermore, the multi-level model reveals several noteworthy dynamics. First, we find that political and economic context had substantial a-priori influence on citizens' satisfaction with democracy. Second, we find that the adequacy of representation is a key proxy in predicting levels of satisfaction. Finally, we find that data on both levels and interactions between them is significantly correlated with voters' satisfaction with their democratic performance.