Citizenship in Hard Times : How Ordinary People Respond to Democratic Threat

234 Pages·2022·3.249 MB·English

by  Sara Wallace Goodman

Citizenship in Hard Times
What do citizens do in response to threats to democracy? This book
examines the mass politics of civic obligation in the US, UK, and
Germany. Exploring threats like foreign interference in elections and
polarization, Sara Wallace Goodman shows that citizens respond to
threats to democracy as partisans, interpreting civic obligation through
partisan incentives that are shaped by a country’s political institutions.
This divided, partisan citizenship makes democratic problems worse
by eroding the national unity required for democratic stability.
Employing novel survey experiments in a cross-national research
design, Citizenship in Hard Times presents the first comprehensive
and comparative analysis of citizenship norms in the face of democratic
threat. In showing partisan citizens are not a reliable bulwark against
democratic backsliding, Goodman identifies a key vulnerability in
the mass politics of democratic order. In times of democratic crisis,
defenders of democracy must work to fortify the shared foundations
of democratic citizenship.
sara Wallace Goodman is Associate Professor of Political Science
at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Immigration
and Membership Politics in Western Europe (Cambridge, 2014).

Citizenship in Hard Times
How Ordinary People Respond to
Democratic Threat
SARA WALLACE GOODMAN
University of California, Irvine
C a m b r id g e
UNIVERSITY PRESS
C a m b r id g e
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: wmv.cambridge.org/p781316512,333
DOi: 10.1017/97810090582,92,
© Sara Wallace Goodman 2,02,2,
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2,02,2,
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
names: Goodman, Sara Wallace, 1979-author.
title: Citizenship in hard times : how ordinary people respond to democratic threat /
Sara Wallace Goodman, University of California, Irvine.
description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2,02,2,. i
Includes bibliographical references and index, i Contents: Introduction - Citizenship and democratic
instability - Measuring citizenship norms: behavior, belief, and belonging - Patterns of partisan
citizenship - Polarization - Foreign interference in elections - Conclusion.
identifiers: lccn 2,02,102,9697 (print) i lccn 2,02,102,9698 (ebook) i
isbn 9781316512,333 (hardback) i isbn 9781009061049 (paperback) i isbn 97810090582,92, (epub)
subjects: lcsh: Citizenship-United States-History. i Democracy-United States-History. i Elections-
Corrupt practices-United States, i Minorities-United States-Social conditions, i United States-Politics and
government-2,1 st century, i BISAC: POLITICAL SCIENCE / General
CLASSIFICATION: LCC JKI759 .G587 2,02,2, (print) i LCC JKI759 (ebook) i DDC 32,3-6o973-dc2,3
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2,02,102,9697
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2,02,102,9698
isbn 978-1-316-512,33-3 Hardback
isbn 978-1-009-06104-9 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Dedicated to Micah and Silvia

Contents
List of Figures page ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Introduction i
2 Citizenship and Democratic Instability 29
3 Measuring Citizenship Norms: Behavior, Belief,
and Belonging 57
4 Patterns of Partisan Citizenship 89
5 The Threat of Polarization 112
6 Foreign Interference in Elections 145
7 Conclusion 177
Appendix 1 Summary Statistics 189
Appendix 2 Balance Tests: Polarization 193
Appendix 3 Balance Tests: Foreign Interference 197
References 201
Index 217
vii

Figures
3.1 Obeys laws and regulations page 66
3.2 Votes in elections 67
3.3 Active in social or political associations 68
3.4 Help people worse off than yourself 69
3.5 Keeps watch on government 70
3.6 Understands the reasoning of people with other opinions 71
3.7 Six new items on political liberalism 72
3.8 Two new items on national belonging 72
4.1 Ideological placement of political parties 94
4.2 Respondent self-placement of ideology, by partisanship 95
4.3 Dimensions of citizenship in the US, by partisanship 98
4.4 Items of citizenship in the US, by partisanship 100
4.5 Dimensions of citizenship in the UK, by partisanship 102
4.6 Items of citizenship in the UK, by partisanship 102
4.7 Dimensions of citizenship in Germany, by partisanship 104
4.8 Items of citizenship in Germany, by partisanship 106
4.9 Items of citizenship in 2004, by partisanship 109
5.1 Polarization treatment effects 129
5.2 Polarization treatment by partisanship, US 131
5.3 Polarization treatment by partisanship, UK 134
5.4 Polarization treatment by Brexit vote, UK 136
5.5 Polarization treatment by coalition participation, Germany 138
5.6 Polarization treatment by partisanship, Germany 139
5.7 Aggregate dimensions of citizenship norms by
partisanship, Germany 141
IX
X List of Figures
6.1 Percentage of support for honest elections in five states, 2015
and 2019 148
6.2 Foreign interference treatment effects 158
6.3 Foreign interference treatment by partisanship, US 161
6.4 Foreign interference treatment by objection, US Democrats only 164
6.5 Foreign interference treatment by objection, patience, US 165
6.6 Foreign interference treatment by partisanship, UK 167
6.7 Foreign interference treatment by Brexit vote, UK 169
6.8 Foreign interference treatment by coalition
participation, Germany 171
6.9 Foreign interference treatment by partisanship, Germany 172