Fueled by new data from the Varieties of Democracy project, Democratic Quality in Southern Europe takes a close look at the democratic trajectories of France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain over the past fifty years. Despite similar beginnings, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain have experienced significant variations in the way their democracies have evolved. Covering ground from the protest movements of the late '60s and early '70s to the challenges that resulted from the financial crisis of the Great Recession, editor Tiago Fernandes expertly draws together a collection of essays that look beyond the impact of socioeconomic development in these five countries, exploring innovative and nuanced explanations for their diverging paths. Democratic Quality in Southern Europe combines new data with classical methodologies to create fresh, convincing hypotheses on the development, quality, and depth of democracy in this critical region.
Tiago Fernandes is associate professor of political science at the University Institute of Lisbon. He is head of the Varieties of Democracy Regional Center for Southern Europe and was a visiting fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies between 2009 and 2011. He most recently co-authored Legacies and Memories in Movements: Justice and Democracy in Southern Europe.
List of Contributors List of Figures Acknowledgments by Tiago Fernandes Introduction: Patterns of Democratic Quality in Southern Europe, 1960s-2010s by Tiago Fernandes 1. Elections: Institutional Frameworks and Participation Dynamics by Joao Cancela 2. Party Systems by Edalina Rodrigues Sanches 3. Direct Democracy by Jose Santana Pereira and Tiago Tiburcio 4. Media and Politics by Jose Santana Pereira and Pedro Diniz de Sousa 5. Subnational Democracy by Pedro T. Magalhaes 6. Women's Political Representationby Edna Costa 7. Inequality and the Welfare-State by Rui Branco Conclusion: Origins of Democratic Quality in Southern Europe: Legacies from the Authoritarian Past, Civil Society, and Progressive Coalitions by Tiago Fernandes
"Democratic Quality in Southern Europe makes a valuable and original contribution to scholarly thinking about the processes of democratization within the region, expertly drawing upon original data from the Varieties of Democracy project." -Anthony M. Messina, co-author of Immigration, Security, and the Liberal State "Fernandes and his collaborators provide a sophisticated but accessible blend of argument and evidence explaining political similarities and differences across five polities. Blending historical perspective with mountains of empirical evidence, this collection is a 'must-read' for anyone who seeks to understand the varieties of democracy in Southern Europe." -Nancy Bermeo, coeditor of Mass Politics in Tough Times
