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To what extent, if any, does social capital contribute to the democratic formation of citizens´' attitudes? It is a major influence among several others or just a minor one when it comes to forming political attitudes? This paper provides an empirical answer to these questions, drawing from the 2010 European Social Survey questionnaire. Its first section includes a discussion about the quality of democacy in the culturalist approach of Political Science. The following section addresses the operationalization of the concept of quality of democracy and its main dimensions, with particular attention to social accountability. It then seeks to relate the concepts of social accountability as a pivotal dimension of the quality of democracy and social capital as formulated By Robert Putman. We used a multivariate regression analysis to test our hypotheses, which focus on whether the components that make up social capital have a differentiated impact on the formation of political attitudes, i.e. on the degree of satisfaction with democracy and trust in political institutions in old and new democracies. Resumo Em que medida, se em alguma, o capital social contribui para a formação democrática das atitudes dos cidadãos? Será uma grande influência entre vários outros ou apenas uma influência menor quando se trata de formar atitudes políticas? Este artigo fornece uma resposta empírica para estas questões, com base no questionário do European Social Survey de 2010. A primeira secção do artigo inclui uma discussão sobre a qualidade da democracia na abordagem culturalista da Ciência Política. A secção seguinte aborda a operacionalização do conceito de qualidade da democracia e as suas principais dimensões, com especial atenção à responsabilidade social. Em seguida, procura relacionar os conceitos de responsabilidade social como uma dimensão essencial da qualidade da democracia e do capital social, conforme formulado por Robert Putman. Utilizamos uma análise de regressão multivariada para testar nossas hipóteses, que focam se os componentes que compõem o capital social têm um impacto diferenciado na formação de atitudes políticas, ou seja, no grau de satisfação com a democracia e confiança nas instituições políticas nas antigos e nas novas. democracias.

The current decline in political participation is a great cause of concern among political scientists, opinion makers and political leaders. There are two main approaches to this decline that occurs especially in Europe. The first one is the 'modernization' thesis. The second is the 'social individualization' thesis. Nevertheless, the empirical debate has not been successful in providing a detailed record of the relations between social capital and political participation. Much of it is due to a reductionist use of both concepts' operationalization. In this article we have two main goals. Firstly, we showed that the concepts of social capital and political participation are, theoretically and empirically, multidimensional concepts. Secondly, we assessed, through multivariate regression analyses, the explicative capacities of the more traditional political participation explanatory models: 'the individual resources model' and the 'civic voluntarism model' together with the more recent 'social capital relational model'. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Basing on the previous and early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, this article analysis the main determinants of citizens' trust in the prime minister over that period. Prior research on the political effects of the pandemic has mostly focused on identifying a rally around the flag effect, and little is known about other reasons behind the increase in trust after the outbreak of the pandemic. Based on survey data from February to July 2020 for Spanish citizens, we argue that the reasons for the increased trust in the prime minister following the pandemic outbreak are due more to performance evaluations than to emotional-related factors regarding COVID-19 health issues. We also argue that among performance evaluations, the assessment of policy performance in fighting the COVID-19 crisis is of preeminent relevance in explaining trust in the prime minister during the pandemic period. Findings widely support our argument. By comparing the effects of conventional to emotional-related factors, we extend scholarship on political trust in the context of an exogenous crisis.

This article reviews the case of the oft-claimed 'crisis of parties' in Portugal, and argues that such controversy rests at least in part on 'ambiguous' evidence. We will try to answer three fundamental questions: (1) how do Portuguese citizens view and evaluate
political parties? (2) What are the sources of public support for political parties in Portugal? And (3) why does anti-party rhetoric resonate with some citizens, but not others? The analysis of empirical data allows the following conclusions. First, citizens' attitudes towards the parties
have a multi-dimensional nature, so it is possible to distinguish two key dimensions conceptually and empirically: diffuse support and specific support for parties. Second, the two types of public support for parties have different sources at the individual level. Third, in the eyes of the
Portuguese citizen, parties became a kind of 'necessary evil', being criticised for 'what they actually do' and supported for 'what they are supposed to do'.

This article reviwes the case of the often-claimed "crisis of parties" in Portugal, and argues that such controversy rests partly on "ambiguous" evidence. Our two main objectives are: 1) finding out the nature and extension of public support (or lack thereof) of parties, determining what are the consequences of the lack of public support for parties in citizens´ pressure to reform democrtic institutions. Based on data of four National Public Opinion Surveys, we show that attitudes regarding parties comprehend two conceptually and empirically distinct dimensions: diffuse support and specific support. Afterwards we saw, how a strong criticism of parties' performance coexists in Portugal with strong citizen pressure over political actors compelling them to implement democratic reforms. Lastly, through logistical regression models, we can conclude that both lack of specific support ("critical antipartysism") and lack of diffuse support ("delegitimizing antipartysism") are strong preditors of Portuguese citizen´ reformist orientations and calls. Resumo Este artigo revive o caso da "crise dos partidos" frequentemente reivindicada em Portugal, e argumenta que tal controvérsia depende parcialmente de evidências "ambíguas". Os nossos principais objetivos são: 1) descobrir a natureza e a extensão do apoio público (ou falta dele) dos partidos, determinando quais são as consequências da falta do apoio público aos partidos na pressão dos cidadãos para reformar instituições democráticas. Com base em dados de quatro Investigações Nacionais de Opinião Pública, mostramos que as atitudes em relação às partes compreendem duas dimensões conceitualmente e empiricamente distintas: apoio difuso e apoio específico. Depois, analisamos como uma forte crítica ao desempenho dos partidos coexiste em Portugal com uma forte pressão dos cidadãos sobre os atores políticos, obrigando-os a implementar reformas democráticas. Por último, através de modelos de regressão logística, podemos concluir que tanto a falta de apoio específico ("antipartidismo crítico") como a falta de apoio difuso ("deslegitimando o antipartidismo") são fortes predicadores das orientações e apelos reformistas dos cidadãos portugueses.

In this article, we study how Portuguese citizens see and assess the democratic regime in a longitudinal and comparative perspective. This individual-level study is based on the assumption that mass attitudes have a clear and direct impact on politics, especially on democratic polities.
Inspired by the original theoretical and conceptual Easton's framework, developed and reformulated later by other authors (Norris, Kinglemann and Dalton), we explore the multidimensional perspective of the concept of political support, its levels and components. Building on a wide range of
national and cross-national survey indicators for evidence, concerning both the Portuguese case and some European countries included in the fifth wave of the World Values Survey, we analyse and try understanding the longitudinal trends concerning each political system's dimensions or components.
The main objective of this article is to find out to what extent it is possible to speak of an erosion of Portuguese citizens' support for the political system during the last decade, and if there has been to discern its nature, cumulative effects and magnitude. The time series analysis allowed
us to conclude that the hypothesis of a crisis of legitimacy in Portugal during this period must be rejected. Thus, what seems to be contested in Portugal, as in other European democracies, are the political objects that comprise a more specific level of support, including regime performance,
regime institutions and political actors, due to an increasing level of frustration of accumulated unfulfilled expectations of democracy processes.

Notwithstanding the prolific research on the crisis of democracy since the 1980s, the attention that has been given to political parties has not been enough to fully understand the (increasing lack of) citizen support for them. Additionally, there is too little research on how the economic context can contribute to changes in support for political parties. Focusing on the Portuguese case, this article has three main goals: to assess citizen support for parties before and after the economic crisis; to explore the contribution of the crisis to changes in the explanatory models of support; and finally, to identify the consequences of support for parties, with regard to electoral turnout. Findings reveal the economic crisis has affected support for parties in Portugal, specifically regarding diffuse-institutional support and party legitimacy. Changes in public support for parties between 2008 and 2012 have had consequences on voter turnout.

This article compares how Portuguese voters and deputies evaluated the role of legislators and the representation process before and after the economic crisis (2008 and 2012, respectively). It makes use of a set of six issues characterising two views of representation: one institutional–independent and another participatory–mandatory. It also includes an analysis of two core policy issues. The research draws upon surveys of Portuguese voters and deputies carried out in 2008 and 2012. Findings reveal significant changes in the patterns of representation, a tendency for greater deputy–voter correspondence on the issues of representation, and lesser correspondence among government parties on core policy issues. Finally, voters' views of representation seem equally significant when explaining levels of congruence both before and after the crisis.