Citizens' Confidence in Government, Parliament and Political Parties

This article explores citizens' confidence in political institutions in relation to policy responsiveness within and across countries. The core premise of the mandate theory is that democratic elections deliver the median preferences in policy making to satisfy most citizens' interests. Thus, citizens will display greater confidence toward their political institutions when they perceive that their preferences are pursued in policy making. Twelve consolidated and new democracies from the World Values and European Values Surveys and the Comparative Manifesto Project data sets are analyzed. The findings suggest, first, that individuals across the twelve countries display lower confidence toward political parties than toward parliament or government. Second, weak ideological attachment between individuals and the median policy-making positions in parliament lessens overall citizens' confidence in political institutions. At the institutional level, citizens' confidence for each political institution is most positively affected by the inclusion of the median party in policy processes.