Surse ale suportului politic pentru democrație în țările postcomuniste Sources of Political Support for Democracy in Post-Communist Countries Section Studies and Research Papers

Abstract

The paper deals with how phenomena with relevance at macro level have turned at the individual level into attitudes and beliefs having influence on political support. We consider that comparison with the model of western countries as well as the discrediting of old regimes are external sources of political support. If the two sources mentioned (comparison with western model and discrediting of the communist regime) were considered by and large as initial boosters of political support, in time, they might lose their significance in the process of democratic consolidation. The question is how much importance do they still bear for political support. Is there any other similar phenomenon currently developing that can contribute in the same manner to the legitimacy of the new democracies? We try to find research evidence that an important source of political support can be identified at the macro level, which is the integration process of the former communist countries in the EU. We maintain that this approach can bring more insight into the process of political support and complete the picture created by the explanations based on the hypothesis like socialization and life situation.