Yuliya V. Tverdova

Corruption, Political Allegiances, and Attitudes Toward Government in Contemporary Democracies

Using surveys conducted in sixteen mature and newly established democracies around the globe, this study examines the effect of corruption on peoples attitudes toward government. The analysis demonstrates that citizens in countries with higher levels of corruption express more negative evaluations of the performance of the political system and exhibit lower levels of trust in civil servants. However, the results also show that the negative effect of corruption on evaluations of the political system is significantly attenuated among supporters of the incumbent political authorities. These findings provide strong and systematic evidence that informal political practices, especially those that compromise important democratic principles, should be considered important indicators of political system performance. Moreover, they imply that, while corruption is a powerful determinant of political support across widely varying political, cultural, and economic contexts, it does not uniformly diminish support for political institutions across all segments of the electorate.

Winners, Losers, and Attitudes about Government in Contemporary Democracies

The article compares the effect of political majority and minority status on attitudes toward government in mature and newly established democracies. Specifically, it examines whether being in the majority translates into more positive attitudes toward government than being in the minority. Using surveys conducted by the International Social Survey Project (ISSP) in 12 democracies in 1996, it finds that being in the majority generally translates into more positive attitudes toward government. However, this effect is not of uniform magnitude across countries, nor does it affect all attitudes toward government equally. Specifically, the data show that being in the political majority or minority strongly affects attitudes toward the performance of the political system and the power of government, but does not affect peoples levels of political efficacy in systematic ways.

Choosing the West?: Referendum choices on EU membership in east-central Europe

This study examines the determinants of mass preferences for membership in the European Union among citizens in applicant states of Central and Eastern Europe. We hypothesize that citizens in these countries evaluate prospective membership in the EU on the basis of collective and individual cost-benefit calculi. Moreover, we posit that attitudes toward EU membership reflect people’s underlying political predispositions, such as support for political parties, the political and economic transition, as well as ties with the West. Using data collected in six East European states in 1996, we find that citizens who think they or their country will benefit from EU membership are more likely to say they would vote for it in a referendum. Moreover, citizens who support the free market economy and express positive views about ties with other countries are more supportive of EU membership. However, in contrast to expectations, support for membership in the EU is not a clear-cut preference in favor of the West and for what it stands. Instead, preferences for membership are based on a mix of utilitarian considerations and an internationalist outlook.

IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER? The Foundations of Subjective Human Rights Conditions in East-Central Europe

Using cross-national survey data and information on government practices concerning human rights collected in 17 post-Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe, the authors examine the determinants of people’s attitudes about their country’s human rights situation. They find that not all people in countries that systematically violate human rights develop more negative opinions about their country’s human rights situation. However, results show high levels of disregard for human rights strongly affect evaluations of human rights practices among individuals with higher levels of education. Thus better educated respondents were significantly more likely to say there was respect for human rights in their country if they lived in a country with fewer violations of the integrity of the person or that protected political and civil rights; conversely, they were less likely to say so if they lived in a more repressive country or a country where political and civil rights were frequently violated.

Human Trafficking in Western Europe: A Comparative Public Opinion Study of Fifteen Nations

Academic interest in human trafficking has been surging in the past decade. Empirical studies of the problem are still scarce and non-systematic. In the present manuscript, I explore public opinion about human trafficking in 15 West European democracies, which, for the most part, are final destinations for the trafficking victims. How aware of the issue are the publics of these countries? How concerned are they? What are the sources of their anxiety about human trafficking? I attempt to answer these questions by investigating individual- and system-level factors that could drive public concerns. The findings suggest that attitudes towards immigration and gender play a significant role for individual sentiments about trade in persons. Among national variables, a country’s wealth and certain legislative efforts to combat human trafficking explain some variation in the dependent variable.