Multidimensional understandings of democracy in Europe

What do citizens understand under the term ‘democracy’? Research shows that looking merely at citizens’ general support for democracy as a regime cannot reveal much about citizens’ different notions of democracy, which might invalidate the claim of democratic support altogether. Some scholars also identify different models of democracy, such as liberal, authoritarian, and populist. However, research thus far has only assumed different understandings, without looking into which understandings are prevalent among citizens and how they interact with one another. Using latent profile analysis, this paper aims to identify different groups of democratic understandings among European citizens in 19 countries.