Liberal or mixed democracy? Concepts of citizen group democracy in Lithuania

Abstract

Citizens’ satisfaction with democracy and political approval are essential for ensuring the stability and longevity of democracy in a country. The configurations of citizens’ conceptions of democracy shape their expectations and can impact support for democracy. This paper aims to identify which conceptions of democracy are shared by Lithuanian citizens and what factors influence their conceptions. A latent class analysis of the data (European Social Survey, Lithuania 2022) identified four different configurations of democratic conceptions (liberal, mixed, social populist, and minimal). The configurations of citizens’ conceptions of democracy are statistically significantly related to age, education, income, emancipator values, interpersonal trust, religiosity, and interest in politics.