ABSTRACT
The argument that the European Union (EU) suffers from a democratic defi cit is commonly defended by the argument that as a polity, it is too diverse. This raises the question of whether other heterogeneous polities are democratically illegitimate as well. We examine democratic support by analyzing the conditions for perceived democratic legitimacy in diverse and non-diverse polities. First, we show that there is no correlation between diversity and democratic support. Second, we examine the role of decentralization, diversity, the nature of federalism and national pride in federal systems. Again, low diversity is not found to be a relevant condition for democratic support. In addition, combinations of high national pride with dual federalism and low national pride with cooperative federalism are found to be suffi cient for a high perception of democratic legitimacy. In the conclusion, we address the implications of these fi ndings for the EU’s quest to increase its democratic support.
