ABSTRACT
This chapter focusses on citizens of newly democratizing countries. Although it might be expected that citizens would be key players of a democracy, the role of citizens in maintaining democratic stability and producing a consolidated democracy is still extremely unclear. Certainly, citizens in some countries have been instrumental in forcing authoritarian regimes to make the transition to democracy, as witnessed in Central Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In all three of the countries analysed here, however, transitions to democracy were clearly elite-rather than mass-led. Even under these circumstances, there are countless scholars who would argue that once the transition has been made by the elites, the attitudes and behaviours of the mass citizenry are, in fact, important for ensuring the continued existence of the democracy. In this chapter, we address two aspects of the mass citizenry that are thought to be most relevant: civic culture or ‘social capital’ of the society and the ways in which citizen interests are mobilized via accepted democratic channels, particularly political parties. The chapter also explores the role of political parties in consolidating democracy in the three countries.
