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Democratization and political alienation: the legacies of post-communist transition in Romania
[journal article]
Abstract A frequent finding in the political behavior literature is that citizens from Central and Eastern Europe participate less in politics than their western neighbors. While political institutions have democratized and consolidated in some of these countries (i.e. the new EU member states), overall civi... view more
A frequent finding in the political behavior literature is that citizens from Central and Eastern Europe participate less in politics than their western neighbors. While political institutions have democratized and consolidated in some of these countries (i.e. the new EU member states), overall civic and political activism of citizens from the former communist states knows an obvious setback. This article focuses on Romania and traces the sources of political disengagement to the problems of post-communist transition in this country. The findings reveal that public expectations during the transition processes (i.e. demand side) have largely diverged from the perceived democratic performance of political authorities (i.e. supply side). Thus, the paper identifies widespread disappointments with the perceived outcomes of the political process as a key source of political alienation in post-communist Romania. Pervasive symptoms of political alienation in this country include feelings of political exclusion, helplessness and political ineffectiveness, distrust of politicians and political institutions, lack of interest in politics and the perception of politics as irrelevant to people's lives. All these further hinder citizen participation in the democratic process.... view less
Keywords
post-communist society; transition; democratization; socioeconomic development; political change; public opinion; political attitude; political participation; political interest; dissatisfaction with politics; alienation; Romania
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Macrosociology, Analysis of Whole Societies
Document language
English
Publication Year
2016
Page/Pages
p. 85-108
Journal
Journal of Identity and Migration Studies, 10 (2016) 2
ISSN
1843-5610
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works