Abstract
Recent years have seen growing tensions between the ideals and the perceivedperformance of democratic institutions. While there is no ‘crisis of democracy’,many believe that all is not well with the body politic. Concern in theUnited States has focused on widespread cynicism about political institutionsand leaders, fuelling fears about civic disengagement and a half-empty ballotbox (Nye et al., 1997; Putnam, 2000). The common view is that the Americanpublic turns off, knows little, cares less and stays home. Similar worries echoin Europe. Commentators have noted a crisis of legitimacy following thesteady expansion in the power and scope of the European Union despitepublic disengagement from critical policy choices (Hayward, 1995; Andersonand Eliason, 1996, Pharr and Putnam, 2000). The growth of critical citizens isopen to many explanations, explored in a previous study (Norris, 1999).
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