In this book, a group of leading scholars analyzes the functioning of modern democracies by focusing on two basic principles: political representation and policy congruence. Drawing on recent survey data from a variety of national and international research projects, they demonstrate how political representation works and mostly leads to a fair degree of policy congruence between citizens and their representatives. They also present new insights on the sources of satisfaction with democracy and the impact of the economy on elections and political trust.

 This book is published on the occasion of the retirement of Jacques Thomassen as distinguished professor of political science at the University of Twente. The contributors include Russell Dalton, Hans‐Dieter Klingemann, Pippa Norris, Ola Listhaug, Hanne Marthe Narud, Jan van Deth, Peter Mair, Cees van der Eijk, Hermann Schmitt, Sören Holmberg and Rudy Andeweg.

 
Martin Rosema, Bas Denters and Kees Aarts are affiliated with the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Institute for Innovation and Governance Studies (IGS) at the University of Twente.

Martin Rosema, Bas Denters, and Kees Aarts are affiliated with the Institute for Innovation and Governance Studies (IGS) and the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

Preface

1 How Democracy Works: An Introduction

   Martin Rosema, Kees Aarts and Bas Denters

2 The Dynamics of Political Representation

   Russell J. Dalton, David M. Farrell and Ian McAllister

3 Approaching Perfect Policy Congruence: Measurement, Development, and Relevance for    Political Representation

   Rudy B. Andeweg

4 Dynamic Representation from Above

   Sören Holmberg

5 Is Governing Becoming more Contentious?

   Peter Mair

6 Democratic Congruence Re-Established: The Perspective of ‘Substantive’ Democracy

   Christian Welzel and Hans-Dieter Klingemann

7 Does Democratic Satisfaction Reflect Regime Performance?

   Pippa Norris

8 Citizens’ Views about Good Local Governance

   Bas Denters, Oscar Gabriel and Lawrence E. Rose

9 Patterns of Party Evaluations

  Kees Aarts and Bernt Aardal

10 The Electoral Consequences of Low Turnout in European Parliament Elections

   Cees van der Eijk, Hermann Schmitt and Eliyahu V. Sapir

11 Assessing the Quality of European Democracy: Are Voters Voting Correctly?

  Martin Rosema and Catherine E. de Vries

12 The Impact of the Economic Crisis in Europe: ‘‘I’m doing fine’’

  Jan W. van Deth

13 The Changing Macro Context of Norwegian Voters: From Center-Periphery Cleavages to     Oil Wealth

   Ola Listhaug and Hanne Marthe Narud

List of Contributors

Appendix: Publications by Jacques Thomassen

References