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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2010.01717.x Byline: Leonardo Morlino (1) Abstract: 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. Author Affiliation: (1)Istituto di Scienze Umane, Florence

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. Keywords: consolidation; crisis; change; anchoring: legitimacy

As democracy has spread to a majority of the world's states over the past three decades scholars, politicians, activists, and aid administration have gone from asking why transitions happen and what are these new regimes like. A particular dimension of the quality of democracy such as freedom, the rule of law, vertical accountability, responsiveness, and equality are discussed where some of the ways in which the different elements of democracy not only overlap, but also depend upon one another, forming a system in which improvement along one dimensions can have beneficial effects along other.

The basic ideas are also very clear, which can be summarized as follows: it is necessary to re-establish a stable liberal order; this order can only be founded on a composition between democracy and the market that, internally, strengthens an inclusive welfare and, at the international level, is based on cooperation of the existing democracies, within the different international institutions and directly among themselves; in this refoundation of the liberal order, the European Union will have to play a fundamental role. Almost all, however, have moved in the wake of traditional international relations, which made a clear distinction between international and domestic politics, developing on this distinction a disciplinary identity of which one was proud. I would like to add that I share the author's analysis and, like him, I believe that especially in these years a path of international cooperation, the considerable strengthening of the European Union and the definitive transformation of our democracies into inclusive and protective regimes are the basic lines that will allow us to go through years that appear to be as difficult as those we have just experienced with the pandemic. [Extracted from the article]

South European countries were severely hit by the eurozone crisis. Adopting the theoretical framework of prospect theory, this article conducts an empirical analysis of the interpretation of the situation by the South European political leaders in terms of gains and losses. After discussing the stances of South European countries vis-à-vis a number of contested issues which emerged during the 2010–2013 negotiations, the article goes on to provide a comparative account of the determinants of national preference formation with respect to the eurozone crisis reforms in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain, paying special attention to the relationship between governments and parliaments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]