Democracy is no good. Social identity, capital and personality and dissatisfaction with democracy in 28 European countries

European democracies witness raising support for populist political parties which on average are able to attract 20% of votes in parliamentary elections. Electoral gains already secured participation in government to some of the populist parties, which allowed them to interfere with the very principles of liberal democracy via (attempted) modification of state’s constitution or laws vital for democratic competition (e.g. Hungary, Poland). Populist parties are rather antagonist to the principles of liberal democracy and voting for populist parties is associated with dissatisfaction with current democratic systems of government. Aim of this research is to explore possible causes of dissatisfaction with democracy which we understand as a significant predictor of electoral support for populist political parties. We assume that dissatisfaction with democracy, measured as evaluation of different aspects of democracy and preference for non-democratic governing principles, will be result of the combined influence of social identity, social capital and anomie, personality traits, political participation and socio-economical position. Specifically, we will explore how xenophobia, nationalism, immigrant issues, interpersonal trust and institutional trust, voluntary organization membership, social dominance orientation and authoritarian submission, political party membership and involvement in political action, politics interest, and occupational status contribute to anti-democratic attitude. Theoretical framework explaining dissatisfaction with democracy departs from interdisciplinary cooperation of political science, social psychology and sociology. The assumptions are tested through an empirical analysis of survey data from European Values Study 2008. Integrated dataset contains representative samples of current 28 EU member states’ populations. Multilevel analysis containing individual level and national context level is employed to estimate the effects of the independent variables on dissatisfaction with democracy. Utilizing the national context level in analysis we aim to allow country-specific democratic systems intervene into analysis.