The False Promise of Political Culture : Evaluating the effect of public support for democracy and emancipative values on mobilization for democracy

Previous research has established that mobilization for democracy and nonviolent protests have been essential for democratic change and transitions, however the cultural foundations of such mobilization remain inadequately understood. This study therefore explores the role of democratic values in encouraging mobilization for democracy from 1980 to 2017. The analysis investigates whether increased levels of democratic value orientations within societies increase the likelihood of mobilization for democracy, and how this relationship varies during episodes of autocratization, and within autocratic, and more authoritarian states. Theoretically, the study contrasts the explanatory power of two distinct cultural frameworks emphasizing different types of democratic values and measures of political culture: Public support for democracy, and Emancipative values. To assess the explanatory potential of the cultural frameworks, the study utilizes a statistical analysis of aggregated country-year indicators to overcome the limitations of individual level data across countries over time. The results indicate that democratic value orientations cannot explain the emergence of mobilization for democracy in a general context, during autocratizing episodes, or within autocratic, and more authoritarian states, as key factors were either insignificant or negative, consequently calling into question the relevancy of cultural explanations of democratization.