Globalization, Representation, and Attitudes Towards Democracy

One of the main challenges for modern democracies is their supposedly declining support among the citizenry. Two rival explanations for declining political support are the modernization thesis and the globalization thesis. According to the first thesis, the greatest loss in support for the democratic system is expected to be located among the better educated, the more skilled, and those with higher incomes. The second thesis predicts the opposite, i.e. that the greatest loss in support is to be found among those at the margins of the economic order: the less educated, the less skilled, and those with lower incomes. The chapter finds more evidence in support for the second than the first thesis. It is the citizens on the margin of the economic order that feel less well represented and are less satisfied with democracy. But the differences between different groups in society are rather small.