Matters of satisfaction with and support for democracy have been at the centre of discussion regarding the survival and quality of democracy in Africa since the early 1990s. While the dominant discourse claims that support for democracy keeps on increasing with time, African countries have somewhat deviated from this path. Thus, African countries have had decreasing levels of satisfaction with democracy and support for democracy since the third democratisation wave of the early 1990s. This article takes interest in the trends of satisfaction with democracy and support for democracy with the objective of explaining factors contributing to the undermining of the survival and quality of democracy. A mixed methods research design, using Afrobarometer survey data for four rounds and secondary data, is deployed to address issues pertaining to critical and satisfied democrats as raised in the article. The article finds that satisfaction with democracy and education are significant predictors of support for democracy in Malawi. It also establishes that critical democrats fight to make democracy work, albeit for their economic survival. The article argues that the survival and quality of democracy in Malawi is compromised by elite critical citizens who show commitment to democracy as a matter of principle when they are instrumentalists.

中文翻译：

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民主人士的多重面孔：马拉维对民主的满意度和对民主的支持

自1990年代初以来，对民主的满意和支持一直是关于非洲的民主生存和质量的讨论中心。尽管占主导地位的论述声称对民主的支持随着时间的推移而不断增加，但非洲国家在某种程度上偏离了这一道路。因此，自1990年代初的第三次民主化浪​​潮以来，非洲国家对民主的满意度和对民主的支持程度不断下降。本文关注对民主的满意度和对民主的支持的趋势，目的是解释造成破坏民主生存和质量的因素。混合方法研究设计，使用四轮的气压计调查数据和辅助数据，部署用于解决与本文中提到的关键和满意的民主人士有关的问题。文章发现，对民主和教育的满意度是马拉维支持民主的重要预测指标。它还建立了批判性民主人士为使民主工作而斗争的权利，尽管其是为了经济生存。文章认为，马拉维民主的生存和质量受到精英批判公民的损害，他们在发挥工具主义者作用时就原则上表现出对民主的承诺。