| Description: |
The political support of citizens of new democracies reflects two sets of experiences. Initially, people are socialized into an undemocratic regime; then, they must re-learn political support in relation to a new regime. In an established democracy, it is difficult to disentangle the effect of early socialization and current performance, because both refer to the same regime, but this is possible in countries where there is a change in regime. We theorize that at the start of a new regime past socialization should be more important, but after a few years current performance should become more important. This article analyzes 47 sample surveys between 1991 and 1998 in 10 post-Communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to test the relative importance of socialization influences such as gender and education and the legacy of the Communist past, and the political and economic performance of new regimes. Sociotropic current and future economic influences are important, in Central and Eastern Europe the actual impact of political performance on regime support is greater and increasing.
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