Democratic Paradox in the European Union: Systemic versus Participatory Components.

The low voter turnout in elections to the European Parliament has often been interpreted as a low level of support for the European Union (EU). This paper challenges this preconception. Applying Dahl's (2000) concept of democratic paradox, it suggests that general support for the EU as a systemic framework of civic and economic liberties can be associated with low levels of individual involvement in the system (political interest and participation). The main hypotheses are that this paradox can be explained with low levels of perceived party system polarization on the question of European unification and perceived or objective positive performance of the national government and economy. These propositions are tested via multilevel mixed effects logistic regressions using the 2004 European Election Study and contextual data from the World Bank. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]