ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the theoretical and methodological model guiding the research, including the concepts of democracy and citizenship, and reviews recent research findings which were used to formulate the research problems. Based on the V-Dem (Lührmann et al., 2018), perceptions of the status of democracy were analyzed using four indicators: (1) Media Independence, (2) Freedom of Speech and Action, (3) Repression and Intimidation, (4) Election Honesty. Based on Zalewska and Krzywosz-Rynkiewicz’s (2018) model, citizenship activity was examined in three dimensions: (1) Passive Citizenship, defined as a sense of national identity and patriotism; (2) Semi-Active Citizenship, namely civic virtues and loyalty to state institutions; (3) Active Citizenship in four sub-dimensions: social activity, political activity, action for change and personal activity. The results of the psychometric analyses indicate that the developed research tools were adequate and the constructs under study were effectively conceptualized.
