What do citizens expect from a democracy? An invariance test and comparison between East and West Germany with the ISSP 2004

Abstract

One of the prerequisites for a functioning democracy is that its citizens support by and large its democratic system. However, such support cannot be taken for granted and should be monitored. Furthermore, different people may have different perceptions, expectations, and understanding of the concept of democracy. This may be especially true for citizens socialized in different political systems like those in Eastern and Western Europe before the fall of the iron curtain, where the concept of democracy and the rights of citizens in a democracy were communicated in quite different ways. (author's abstract)