The 2007-2009 Financial Crisis

Abstract

Abstract Analysis of democratic legitimacy has generally focused on two different perspectives. Minimalist definitions of democracy focus on procedures, liberties and rights, whereas substantive definitions focus on how such a regime improves citizens’ general welfare. Democracies have enjoyed decades of prosperity. Hence, the impact of a lack of economic wellbeing has been difficult to analyse and, consequently, the weight of substantive issues in democratic legitimacy remains unexplored. However, the impact of the recent financial crisis allows us to measure how elites and citizenry of seven countries on four different continents evaluated the importance of political versus economic issues for the level of democracy in their countries. The analysis is based on public and political elite surveys conducted in 2006 and in 2013.