Safronov V.V. Citizen’s Dissatisfaction with Democracy and Protest: Russia in The European Context. Telescop: Jurnal sociologicheskich i marketingovich issledovaniy. 2016. № 2. P. 27-37.

Abstract

In modern democracies there are a lot of dissatisfied democrats who keep commitment to democratic values, but are dissatisfied with political system in the country.  There is an assumption which didn't receive still convincing confirmation that such critical citizens will promote further democratization, actively using for this purpose a political protest.  For verification of this assumption data of the European Social Survey 2012 and the World Bank for 27 countries were analyzed by statistical methods of hierarchical two-level (logistic) modeling.  The indicator of protest activity is participation in signing petitions, in boycotts or lawful demonstrations.  The study showed that such protest was widespread in Western Europe, but not in the new democracies of Eastern and Central Europe.  The discrepancy between democratic values and assessments of the state of democracy is particularly evident, on the contrary, in new regimes.  This democratic deficit plays a significant role in mobilizing protest activity, but only under favorable societal conditions when the society is rich in resources and political opportunities.  Russia is among the countries with a high level of dissatisfaction with democracy, but low levels of societal resources, and especially of political openness, so critical feelings not encourage our fellow citizens to the regular use of direct pressure on the authorities to develop genuine democratic institutions.