ERC - Marc Hooghe

Linkage Mechanisms between Citizens and the State
Consequence of Changing Value Patterns and Expanding Participation Repertoires

The relation between citizens and the state has been transformed dramatically in previous decades. Structural forms of linkage, like party membership, partisan identities and institutionalized forms of participation (e.g., voting) are in decline, while in a number of countries, political trust too has eroded. Citizens, clearly, have become much more critical toward the political system. Research has shown, however, that this decline does not amount to an alienation of citizens from the political system, as non-institutionalized forms of participation and levels of political interest clearly are not caught in this downward spiral.

This project starts from the concept ‘linkage’, to summarize the attitudinal and behavioral network of relations between citizens and the state, and the interaction between these components. Based on the insights of the traditional ‘civic culture’ literature, it is ascertained what consequences these emerging linkage mechanisms might have on the future stability of liberal democracy in Western societies. The assumption is that linkage can only be effective if citizens have access to sufficient opportunities to communicate to the political system and if they have mechanisms available to get their voice heard in the political decision making process. In the various work packages of the project we investigate the behavioral and electoral consequences of political trust, the stratification and the effectiveness of non-institutionalized forms of political participation and the interrelation between participation and attitudinal orientations toward the political system. The guiding research question of the project is what are the most likely consequences of changing value patterns and expanding participation repertoires for the functioning of liberal democracy. To a large extent, the empirical work packages are built on survey methods, fully exploiting the availability of recent comparative datasets. This is important, since we can assume that linkage patterns are country-specific, and comparative research therefore is essential if we want to detect general patterns. This also allows us to ascertain whether the process of European integration has a specific effect on political trust within the member states of the European Union.

In addition we rely on case studies, interviews, content analysis and experimental methods. This project strongly builds on previous research efforts of our research unit, with the aim to arrive a theoretically founded synthesis of empirical findings. The findings of the project are theoretically informed, but they should provide also insights with regard to the stability of liberal democratic political systems.