Robert Rohrschneider

Democratization and Political Tolerance in Seventeen Countries: A Multi-level Model of Democratic Learning

Research on mass support for democracies shows that popular support for democratic norms is at an historic high. At the same time, research on political tolerance draws considerably bleaker conclusions about the democratic capacity of mass publics. We attempt to synthesize the essential lessons of these two literatures into a general model of democratic learning which argues that exposure to the rough-and-tumble of democratic politics should enhance political tolerance. We provide a test of the model using multilevel data from a diverse set of 17 countries. At the macro-level, we find, consistent with our theory, that: (1) political tolerance is greater in stable democracies that have endured over time (the longer the better), independent of a nation’s socioeconomic development; and (2) that federal systems increase levels of tolerance, as well. At the micro-level, we find that democratic activism, or using civil liberties, enhances political tolerance, independent of a host of other individual-level predictors. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for studies of democratization and political tolerance.

The Environmental Movement and the Modes of Political Action

There have been widely differing claims about how environmental groups attempt to reform environmental policy—from those who see the movement as challenging the prevailing social paradigm through confrontation and violence, to those who lament the movements reliance on conventional styles of political persuasion. This article uses data from the 1998 Global Environmental Organizations Survey (GEOS) to map the political activities used by environmental groups across the globe and to determine what best accounts for these patterns of action. The authors examine the responses of 248 environmental groups in the GEOS; these data allow the authors to compare environmental group behaviors across 59 nations and 5 continents. They find that most environmental groups engage in a mixture of political methods and activities. Although there is little evidence that institutional structures influence participation, the mix of organizational resources and ideology are potent influences on participation patterns. The results help to explain the role that environmental groups play in contemporary politics and the factors that affect this role.

A Global Network? Transnational Cooperation among Environmental Groups

A rich literature theorizes about the development of transnational networks among social movements that may signal the emergence of a new global civil society. This article presents empirical results from an international survey of environmental groups. We find evidence of a relatively dense network of international action by green groups, and a substantial resource transfer from green groups in the OECD nations to those in the developing world. At the same time, the patterns of exchange within this network raise questions about the more optimistic claims of the global civil society literature because participation in this transnational network is largely an extension of the factors that encourage domestic political action. In addition, power inequalities and value differences that exist within this international environmental network may limit transnational cooperation among environmental groups.

The strain of representation : how parties represent diverse voters in western and eastern Europe

Preface 1. Introduction 2. Theory: Representational Strain 3. Choices 4. Programs 5. Congruence 6. Party Organizations and Congruence 7. Social Base and Congruence 8. National Context and Congruence 9. Conclusion Bibliography Index

Understanding Cleavages in Party Systems: Issue Position and Issue Salience in 13 Post-Communist Democracies

There has been considerable debate about the characteristics of political cleavages underlying post-Communist Central and Eastern European party competition, with views ranging from no structure, to unidimensionality, to structured diversity, to entirely sui generis country-specific approaches. Much of the disagreement, the authors argue, results from the failure to take seriously the distinction between issue position and issue salience. Taking this into account, the authors present a model of party cleavages that synthesizes the various arguments into one comprehensive model. Empirical evidence for the argument is derived from an expert survey of 87 parties in 13 post-Communist democracies. Theoretically, this study provides a much more positive picture of the character of party cleavages and of democratic responsiveness in post-Communist states than is generally accepted.

The Roots of Public Opinion toward New Social Movements: An Empirical Test of Competing Explanations

The rise of new social movements in Western Europe has led to the formulation of several models that attempt to explain why mass publics support these movements. Macro models emphasize the social location (e.g., new middle-class membership or social integration) of individuals as a source of public support for new social movements; psychological models focus on postmaterial values or problem perceptions as explanations of why citizens support protest movements. Despite the proliferation of explanatory models, however, research in this area suffers two shortcomings. First, several models remain untested, leaving it uncertain to what extent they are empirically valid. Second, most of the models remain disintegrated. Analyzing public opinion toward environmental groups in four nations, this research employs a Eurobarometer (1986) to test and synthesize various models. Postmaterial values, left policy orientations, and the perception of national pollution problems have the strongest direct influence on public evaluations of environmental organizations. Attributes that reflect the social integration of individuals indirectly influence environmental group evaluations via psychological factors. New middle-class explanations receive no support from my analyses.

Political Parties, Public Opinion and European Integration in Post-Communist Countries

The accession of post-Communist states to the European Union has important implications for EU governance and for our understanding of the political dynamics of integration processes. Existing literature, we argue, may be inadequate, primarily because it has assumed basic value consensus at mass and elite levels over market structures and the predominance of instrumental reasoning about integration. Neither of these assumptions, however, is tenable for post-Communist states. We seek, therefore, to develop an alternative theoretical framework for understanding the integration of post-Communist societies and point to promising avenues for future empirical research.

Second‐Order Elections versus First‐Order Thinking: How Voters Perceive the Representation Process in a Multi‐Layered System of Governance

Abstract Second‐order election models are based on several assumptions about individual‐level motivations. These can be summarized by a transfer hypothesis: individuals presumably apply their evaluations of national‐level phenomena to the EU level when voting in EU elections. In contrast, a suis generis hypothesis stipulates that voters evaluate the EU on its own performance terms. This paper tests these competing hypotheses. We find considerable support for both models. In the election context, where national institutions — political parties — dominate the representation process, the transfer hypothesis receives considerable support. However, we also find surprisingly strong support for the first‐order hypothesis: electoral choice in EU election is influenced to a considerable extent by EU level factors. Furthermore, when voters evaluate the mechanisms of representation more broadly without a focus on elections per se, we find much more support for the first‐order than the transfer hypothesis — voters clearly separate the two levels and evaluate each level on its own terms. These results have important implications, both for how we analyse voters’ decisions in European elections, and how we view the sophistication of voters more broadly in the context of multi‐layered institutions.

Trust in Democratic Institutions in Germany: Theory and Evidence Ten Years After Unification

In their investigation of the political cultures of five nations in the late 1950s, Almond and Verba argue that the stability of political systems is increased if they are based on a reservoir of good will among citizens. This presumably helps regimes to weather times of poor performance. To democratise a society thus not only requires the establishment of democratic rules but also that citizens agree with the general values upon which a framework is based. Moreover, citizens ideally believe that political institutions and incumbents do not ignore their interests, and do not abuse their privileged positions of power. These insights are behind this article. We examine Germans’ confidence in the core institutions of the democratic state and the rule of law a decade into Germany’s unification: the federal government, the national parliament, the constitutional court, and the legal system. These are familiar institutions to most citizens in the West because most West Germans experienced only one political order – the democratic regime established by Germany’s constitution (the Basic Law). In contrast, most East Germans have lived under at least two regimes. The development of East Germans’ trust in these institutions thus constitutes an important component of democratic consolidation in East Germany. We therefore begin by describing the development of East and West Germans’ confidence in core institutions of the German polity between 1984 and 2000. Beyond this descriptive goal, our theoretical interests lead us to test the predictive power of three models of institutional trust. First, is confidence in institutions rooted in individual predispositions, especially political values? Second, is institutional trust mainly rooted in the system’s perceived performance? Third, is institutional trust rooted in a public’s social capital generated through inter-personal relationships? By examining the empirical validity of these models in Eastern and Western Germany, we not only test the predictive power of each model at the micro-

Representation in New Democracies: Party Stances on European Integration in Post-Communist Eastern Europe

The preponderance of scholarly literature has suggested that East European party systems remain fairly unstructured. As a consequence, the process of party representation does not appear to work adequately yet in these new democracies. In this paper, we systematically examine how well the party representation process works by analyzing party stances towards European economic and political integration. This is an important topic in its own right. But it also provides an opportunity to examine how well parties meet three requirements of the process of party representation in an issue area that is salient in all countries in the region: to supply policy alternatives, to provide coherent policy packages, and to offer programs that are congruent with voter preferences. We draw on a new data set from an expert survey of party stances in 10 post-communist accession states. Our results indicate that East European parties do a remarkably good job in meeting three minimal criteria. In theoretical terms, our study suggests that the party representation model can work even when the context is less favorable than in mature democracies.