Based on two surveys of parliamentarians in five new (Chile, South Korea, Poland, South Africa, Turkey) and two established (Germany, Sweden) democracies, the paper analyzes perceptions of the global economic crisis as well as evaluations of policies to fight the crisis and their determinants. In a second step, it will be determined if these perceptions and evaluations are related to participation in government and to the ideological positions of the political parties. Finally, it will be asked if a decline in democratic legitimacy in the political orientations of MPs and citizens can be observed in the wake of the crisis.