In this chapter I am concerned with the micro-foundations of democratic politics. The basic unit of the democratic political process is the citizen. The quality of policy decisions and outcomes generated by such regimes, as well as the durability of democratic regimes, will ultimately depend upon the quality of the citizens' thought and action. To be sure, modern politics is largely a matter of collective representative actors, such as parties and associations. But this fact does not seem to diminish the role of individual citizens, as representative collective actors consist of and depend upon citizens as members, voters, and supporters. As so much depends upon the citizen and his/her competence to adequately perform the citizen role, equally much will also depend on the ways in which the preferences, evaluations, and cognitive orientations that citizens bring to the political process are formed. Civic competence of the sort that is compatible with and sustains democratic institutions, both in terms of the latters' legitimacy and effectiveness, is neither naturally given nor durable once achieved. Democracies can fail to come into being for lack of appropriate dispositions among citizens, and they can self-destruct because of a decline in civic competence or the breakdown of background conditions that are conducive to it.

Becoming a “good” citizen is a demanding project, both for the individuals themselves and for all those professions (such as educators), political elites, and the designers of political institutions involved in the formation of the qualities of citizens. Along the road leading to the formation of a citizen who then plays some ‘authorizing’ role in the conduct of government, there are a number of issues that must be settled.