This project will develop a cross-national data base that will enable social scientists to analyze the role that mass values and attitudes play in sustaining democratic institutions, and in providing support for environmental protection policies. It brings together public opinion survey data from more than 40 societies representing 70 percent of the world's population and covering the full range of variation, from societies with per capita incomes as low as $300 per year, to societies with incomes one hundred times that high; and from long-established democracies to recently emerging democracies and authoritarian states. It will also integrate these data on mass attitudes, with societal level social and economic indicators such as income levels, literacy rates, and presence or absence of democratic institutions. This unique data base will make it possible to analyze the impact of mass attitudes on stable democracy; or between economic development and worldviews of the respective publics. Because key questions in these surveys have been asked repeatedly over a period of many years, these data will also make it possible to analyze trends over time.
