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There are already a number of good accounts of the impact of the recent 2008–2014 economic crisis on European democracies. However, no systematic assessments of how it has affected specific aspects of democracy have so far been carried out. We explore its impact on European democracies in several areas by adopting the ‘quality of democracy’ framework. Our analysis shows that the measures we employ capture the variation in quality during this ‘troubled’ period. The empirical analysis suggests that a shrinking of private and public resources due to an economic downturn prompts three reactions: (a) a general deterioration of the rule of law; (b) citizens become more sensitive about what governments deliver; and (c) detachment from the institutional channels of representation along with a choice to protest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When analysing transitions toward democracy during the last three decades of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, it is readily apparent that the variety of empirical processes is so wide that achieving meaningful theoretical results is extremely difficult, as shown very explicitly by the existing literature on the topic. This paper addresses the key theoretical questions that need to be dealt with by the empirical analysis of the transitional process: Are there key. recurring actors and factors that we should take into account when analysing all cases in depth? Why is a focus on installation salient? Are there recurring patterns of successful transitions? Is or are there key recurring mechanism/s that critically explain successful transitions? And are there obstacles that make it impossible to achieve a successful transition and doom such a process to failure? On the basis of existing knowledge in the subfield an attempt is made to reply to these questions, and in this way to single out the main theoretical results achieved in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Southern Europe, the economic crisis (2008-2013) triggered a deeper political crisis, affecting a number of aspects of a representative democracy. Italy provides a particularly telling case of what happens when an economic crisis occurs in an unstable political context characterized by low government effectiveness, low efficiency, corruption, decline of electoral participation, fragmented and radicalized party competition, social inequality, high public debt, and other related features, here summarized in the model of “stalemated democracy.” On the basis of a comprehensive data set developed along with eight dimensions of democracy assessment and taking into account the policies pursued during the years of the crisis, we analyze the different effects of economic crisis—some of them expected, others more surprising—and how those effects characterize Italian political crisis and a new phase of great uncertainty. In the concluding remarks we offer an explanation of the role played by the economic crisis, focusing on the interplay between veto rules and actual veto players. Such an explanation is also relevant to see key, more in-depth aspects of Italian democracy during last 20 years and earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article starts from the remarks by Peter Mair on the growing gap between responsiveness and responsibility – or middle-run responsiveness – and the declining capacity of parties to bridge that gap. It focuses on the empirical analysis of the association between economic and substantive democratic dimensions and responsiveness, which are highly relevant to the way in which parties compete and govern within contemporary democracies. Following an introduction of the topic, the second section puts forward key concepts and hypotheses; the third presents the operationalisation of the variables and the applied method; the fourth and primary empirical section of the article analyses the non-procedural determinants of political and economic responsiveness, including freedom and equality as well as several key economic structural factors. The concluding remarks recapitulate the main empirical findings and submit a number of aspects that party leaders ought to take into account when addressing the thorny issue of responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the comparative research we present here as the introduction to a set of case studies, we first assess the quality of democratic procedures, content and outcomes in eight countries in the Asia-Pacific region on the basis of quantitative and qualitative data. Second, we investigate whether, to what extent, and how democratic qualities relate to one another. These investigations are carried out by applying an analytical framework that we developed elsewhere. In contrast to our previous empirical findings demonstrating that all the qualities go hand in hand, that participation and competition are the main determinants of democratic qualities, and that the democratic qualities form a funnel of causality, the present study suggests a different set of conclusions. In the Asia-Pacific region, the democratic qualities are weakly related to one another, do not form a funnel of causality, and participation and competition are not the main drivers of democratic quality. The data presented in the empirical section of the paper claim the existence of an Asia-Pacific exceptionalism. By carefully examining the cases included in our sample, we provide a detailed explanation for why, at least as far as democratic qualities are concerned, the Asia-Pacific region may be exceptional and unique. We reach the conclusion that responsiveness could be achieved by a transition from a rule by law – often coupled with the prominence of patronage, patrimonialist practices and privileges for the elite – to a proper rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the connections between legitimacy and the quality of democracy. The multiple dimensions of the quality of democracy are presented and it is shown that legitimacy is at the core of the definition of responsiveness. Citizens' reactions to government policies are analysed. Also stressed are the limits and constraints of considering responsiveness only in relationship to citizens' attitudes towards government and institutions. Other dimensions are taken into account, particularly electoral accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important traditional topics of empirical theory of democracy have been deeply reshaped by the phenomenon of the diffusion of democracies in the world during at least the last 30 years. More precisely, the definition of democracy is reconsidered under the new light shed by that phenomenon; the issue of hybrid regimes is addressed with all its problems of empirical intractability; the issue of the emergence of a theory, a quasi theory or at least a good theoretical framework about democratisation processes is discussed; and finally a contested issue such as that of the empirical assessment of democratic quality is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the revised draft of the opening lecture given by the author at the 2004 Conference of Italian Society of Political Science in Padua. In the first section the main definitions of democracy and democratic qualities rule of law, electoral accountability, inter-institutional accountability, responsiveness, freedom and equality/solidarity are discussed. In the second, a key question is addressed: if we would like to explain the qualities of a democracy how much are the previous political traditions of the country relevant? Other explanatory factors, which complement the role of an authoritarian legacy, are also suggested and a few key hypotheses are proposed. The final section does not provide any comprehensive explanation, but analyzes of the impact of authoritarian legacy in a few countries of Southern Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, and Italy (but not Greece where it is not relevant) and in the Southern Cone as Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, where the quality of contemporary democracies is questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to examine how, and to what extent, the process of Europeanisation has affected the reshaping of territorial representation in Italy. To explore this research question, it was considered how European Cohesion Policy and structural funds exercise a potential influence over the key dimensions of representation by providing regions with the opportunity to strengthen their roles as both ‘actors’ and ‘arenas’ of representation. Empirical research conducted through interviews and the analysis of documents in all twenty Italian regions revealed how each region has reacted to structural funds in a distinctive way due to different internal factors, such as the legacy of pre-existing policy styles and political structures, and the attitudes of the political/administrative elite. The article discusses this point in detail by focusing on the changes that occurred (or did not occur) at the regional level in light of the aforementioned dimensions of representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of consolidation and internal crisis need to complement each other to better explain the change within a democracy. This article integrates, revises, and develops the results of the existing literature starting from the empirical results of a systematic, comparative empirical research on the Southern European countries. The main theoretical conclusion concerns the salience of the process of democratic anchoring, when consolidation is considered, and de-anchoring with reference to crisis. The different sections of the article analyze the notions of anchors, anchoring, and de-anchoring; the connections with legitimation, democratic consolidation, and crisis; the patterns of consolidation and crisis building in the four Southern European cases; and the explanations and the theoretical background of anchoring and de-anchoring. The concluding remarks illustrate the possible research developments with reference to other areas and the salience of anchoring for every democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces three different notions of quality grounded in procedure, content and result. Those three notions are at the core of three different notions of democratic quality. Each of them has different implications for empirical research. Starting from these premises, the article proposes some theoretical arguments fundamental to the analysis of democratic quality and good democracy. In the first section definitions of democracy and quality are suggested. The subsequent three sections analyse the main emphasized dimensions, such as the rule of law, accountability, responsiveness, freedom and equality. Such an analysis calls for indicators, certain measures that reveal how and to what degree each dimension is present in various models of good democracy, the numerous and related problems associated with empirical study, and the essential conditions for its existence. The penultimate section indicates models of good democracy and highlights the related and much more common models of low quality democracies. The concluding remarks briefly mention the main directions of future research on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the quality of democracy. Various dimensions of democratic quality; Different types of rights that encompasses freedom; Suggestion that responsiveness in a democracy is intrinsically complex and multidimensional; Tendency of the various dimensions of democratic quality to move together either toward democratic improvement or deterioration; Difficulty in determining where one dimension ends and another begins due to the densely interactive and overlapping linkages among the different elements of democracy.

A decade ago, Regions & Cohesion started with an editorial article by Harlan Koff and Carmen Maganda, who proposed launching "a multilingual (English, French, and Spanish) and interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of the human and environmental impacts of regional integration as well as governance processes." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A foreword to "Comparative Sociology" is presented.