The Legitmacy of Democracy and Trust in the Political Institutions in the Czech Republic

Abstract

This article deals with legitimacy of democracy & its relationship to trust in political institutions in the Czech Republic. The introduction includes a recapitulation of the theories concerning the legitimacy of democracy, & on the conditions necessary for this legitimacy, which is what the subject of this article is then built upon. The author distinguishes between support for democracy as a form of government, & satisfaction with the development of democracy in a (particular) country, & searches for the factors on which this depends. As explanatory factors, the author first tests trust in institutions, then political culture & personal characteristics. The analysis showed that the legitimacy of democracy & the evaluation of the development of democracy are not in the Czech Republic mutually independent, & that they depend more on political culture than on trust in the institutions being researched. For legitimacy of democracy, a significant effect was traced only in the case of trust in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) - an institution that also became a value in the political culture. With the evaluation of the development of democracy, trust in institutions was more strongly felt - a significant effect was revealed by an analysis of the social welfare system, the army & the media. It is clear that the evaluation of the performance on institutions is rather more reflected in the system efficacy of the democracy than in legitimacy of democracy as a system of government.