Citizen’s Support for Legislature and Democratic Consolidation: A Comparative Study with Special Focus on Mali

Abstract

What is the role of legislatures in recently democratized countries? In theory, legislatures are believed to have important latent or symbolic functions for the consolidation of democratic regimes. Consolidation can be obvious, such as (1) the stabilization and effective functioning of the basic principles and institutions of the new system, e.g. legislatures and (2) the process of adaptation of behavior and attitudes that promote such stabilization and effective functioning of the new democratic institutions.¹ In a consolidated democracy, the legislature is stabilized and functions in a democratic way, and democratic rules are accepted “as the only game in town.”² Most political scientists regard mass support for democracy in general or democratic institutions in particular as a key variable in the consolidation process.³