Public administration and citizen satisfaction with democracy: cross-national evidence

Abstract

This article examines the democracy–bureaucracy nexus by addressing the role of public administration in sustaining citizen satisfaction with democracy. Employing cross-national data across 35 countries, the multi-level analysis enables investigation at both the individual and the country level. With respect to the former, the findings indicate that citizens’ evaluation of public administration is related more strongly to their satisfaction with democracy than other explanations – such as political trust, electoral fairness, and political efficacy. With respect to the latter, they demonstrate that public administration quality is related to satisfaction with democracy to a degree similar to other macro-level factors – such as the level of democracy, political trust, and human development in a country. The results are discussed in the framework of the debate regarding the democracy–bureaucracy nexus. Points for practitioners This article points to the central role of public administration in sustaining citizen support of democracy. The analysis demonstrates that the image of public service correlated strongly with satisfaction with democracy and that public administration quality appears to be correlated positively with satisfaction with democracy to a degree comparable with alternative explanations. The implications for professionals working in public management and administration is that despite the ongoing castigating of the public service by politicians and pundits, its relevance for the democratic satisfaction of citizens should not be overlooked.