Institutional Quality and Perceptions of Representation in Advanced Industrial Democracies

Abstract

This study examines how well publics feel represented by their parliaments and governments in advanced industrial democracies. I argue that these perceptions are to a significant degree shaped by how well arbitrating institutions-bureaucracies and judiciaries-administer policies and adjudicate conflicts. A core premise is that the personal and salient character of contacts with these institutions informs citizens about how effectively other parts of a regime represent them. The results support the argument: When national administrative and judicial institutions work well, citizens are also more likely to believe that parliaments and governments account for their interests, net of economic factors. The main rival hypothesis receives surprisingly little supporta nation's regime type exerts little influence on representational judgments.

The Cultural Divide in Europe: Migration, Multiculturalism, and Political Trust

“…30 Note that I have also investigated the impact of having centre-right governing coalitions and having a far-right party in the governing coalition on the relationship between concern about immigration and political trust, but the effect did not even achieve basic statistical significance in the case of centre-right coalitions and was very weak better quality of governance was associated with slightly more distrust of parliament and higher GDP per capita was also associated with higher levels of distrust. In general, though, in this analysis, it appears that political distrust may not be related to governance quality, or not in the expected way, in contrast to Rohrschneider's (2005) findings. In addition, unemployment level appears to be unrelated to political trust.…”

Bridging bureaucracy and democracy in Europe: A comparative study of perceived managerial excellence, satisfaction with public services, and trust in governance

“…Nonetheless, future studies should try to replicate our findings before firm conclusions are drawn. Following the theoretical ideas suggested by Huber and Shipan (2002), Rohrschneider (2005), O'Halloran (1994, 1999), Gawthrop (1998), andGoodsell (2006), we can point to a generic relationship between the quality products of the managerial/administrative machinery and the legitimization and quality of the democratic system across the studied countries. For example, our understanding of the conflict between legislators and policy-makers (Huber and Shipan, 2002;Epstein and O'Halloran, 1994) may be enriched in light of our findings that demonstrate the interdependence of the two spheres (the political and the administrative).…”

Another chance? Concerns about inequality, support for the European Union and further European integration

“…Despite the EU's original role as a facilitator of an expanding market, its current and expanded role includes the prospect as a guarantor of democracy for many member states. In the context of the competing effects of EU-level democracy and liberal market economy, there is work to suggest that individuals can, and indeed do, distinguish among EU-level competencies (Caldeira and Gibson 1995;Rohrschneider 2005), suggesting that other EU-level entities such as the European Central Bank, rather than the entire EU project, may be implicated for undesired economic outcomes. While we cannot address this directly here, this question is nonetheless an important one for future research.…”