| Summary: | This article presents the results of analyzing the understanding of democracy using as an example the population of Russia and Germany, including its Western and Eastern lands. Differences in the understanding of this concept can have a significant impact on respondents’ answers when it comes to their attitude towards democracy and satisfaction with the way it works in their country. Based on the European Social Survey data for 2012, a comparative analysis of the public assessment of the importance of various characteristics of democracy was conducted based upon data from Russia and Germany. The comparison was carried out not only focusing on certain characteristics of democracy, but also on the indexes constructed on their basis: the “electoral dimension” of democracy, “liberal dimension” and “social dimension”. The analysis showed that while Russians view the most important aspects of democracy to be its social elements, such as “protection from poverty” and “reduction of inequality”, Germans regard the liberal aspects to bear the most importance. In addition, the relationship between the public understanding of democracy and socio-economic characteristics ofthe population, namely, income and education, was analyzed. The analysis showed that, despite a number of similarities in the understanding of democracy in Russia and Germany, there are significant differences both between countries and within countries — depending on the level of income and education of citizens. For instance, in Russia, in contrast to Germany, the level of income and education are significantly correlated only with the public attitude towards the social aspects of democracy.
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