University Study: Views on Democracy Vary With Language

A recent University of Tartu study showed that people view democracy dfferently depending on whether they speak Estonian or Russian.

Of Estonian speakers, 43 percent consider democratic governance very important compared to only 27 percent of Russian speakers, ETV said.

Compared to the rest of Europe, Estonia is below average but in the upper tier of former communist countries.

"We could say that if Estonian society were composed of only Estonian-speakers, we would be in the top position among post-communist countries, but since the greater dissatisfaction among Russian-speakers lowers the average, in a number of cases, such as the results for the Czech Republic and Poland, the indicators beat us," said senior researcher Piret Ehin. There are also differences between political parties. Ehin said: "The broad strokes are that the Center Party voters consider democracy less important than voters for other parties. Center Party voters are also less satisfied with the workings of democracy."

http://news.err.ee/v/society/d5753538-3994-46bf-83da-30e6b7ac2086

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