How Economic Globalization affects Satisfaction with Democracy and Preferences for Electoral Procedures? The Case of France

Since the nineties, there appears to be a conjunction between the intensification of economic globalization, dissatisfaction with the functioning of (representative) democracy and demands for more inclusive democratic procedures in European advanced democracies. This contribution makes the claim that the three phenomena are connected through the impact of globalization on the reduction of national governments’ (economic) room-to-manoeuvre. Indeed, there is evidence that constraints put upon governments lead to a 1) convergence between parties’ policy platforms and to 2) the hollowing out of economic issues in party appeals, eventually hurting the linkage between elites and citizens. Besides, there is also evidence that economic constraints alter the belief that elections matter as mechanisms of policy change. Hence, we assume that satisfaction with democracy will decrease as globalization deepens because economic constraints have a negative effect on citizens’ political representation. Yet, we also claim that this increasing frustration stemming from the hollowing out of democracy can induce citizens to favour mechanisms that increase their power in the process of decision-making. To test these hypotheses, this study takes advantage of the 2017 French presidential survey which adds an original question on individual perceptions of national governments’ economic room to manoeuvre in the age of globalization and questions on attitudes toward the functioning of democracy and preferred democratic procedures. Our empirical analyses confirm that respondents who believe that globalization reduces national governments’ economic room-to-manoeuvre are 1) less satisfied with the functioning of democracy in general; 2) more likely to think that voting has no influence on political change; and 3) are more prone to believe that electoral promises made by representatives are not held. Besides, they also tend to be more favourable toward the implementation of referenda and more inclined to think that voters (and not rulers, nor experts) should decide.