Abstract

This study analyzes the concept of democracy support by focusing on a few conceptual aspects. In past research, some scholars have limited their study to particular aspects, for example, the "satisfaction with democracy", while others have used only indicators relative to the legitimacy of democracy. In this research, studying concepts such as those above within an Italian context, we analyze the dimensions of democracy support from both synchronic and diachronic viewpoints following Eastons' conceptualization.The principal results show that the dimensions of Italian democracy support are in line with Easton's conceptualization. They are characterized by five dimensions; each one is representative of a specific aspect of democracy support. Adopting bivariate and multivariate analyses, this work demonstrates that in Italy, support for democracy has increased over time, both in terms of "diffuse" and "specific" support. Despite this trend, dissatisfaction with the political class among Italian citizens has increased, confirming a gap between citizens and politicians.