The Quality of Government and National Identification

This article studies the relationship between various dimensions of the legitimization of a political system and national identification. The analysis presented here assumes that the emotional attitudes that link people to their place of residence are conditional. The way the state performs its functions should determine how, and to what extent, such attitudes prevail. The hypothesis suggests that a positive evaluation of government policy enhances identification with the state. An empirical study using data from fourteen post-communist countries provides the basis for accepting a considerable part of the hypothesis. People’s evaluation of social policy, of democracy as a system, and their confidence in public institutions, are of central importance for identification. A separate analysis for Poland shows how perceptions of citizens’ equality before the law have a significant impact on national identification.