Permissive Winners? The Quality of Democracy and the Winner–Loser Gap in the Perception of Freedoms

2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172095223
Author(s):  
Alejandro Monsiváis-Carrillo
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Regime Stability ◽  
Latin American Countries

Voters usually differ in their assessment of the regime’s legitimacy, depending on their status as winners or losers. However, how wide or narrow the winner–loser gap is also depends on the quality of democratic institutions. Using survey data from 18 Latin American countries, this research provides evidence that winners and losers respond differently to the quality of democracy. While most research is concerned with the losers’ consent, this study shows that the winners express more favorable assessments of the supply of freedoms, even in regimes where democracy is weak or undermined by the deliberate efforts of the political authorities. Instead, in their perception of freedoms, losers are more willing to acknowledge if the quality of democracy improves or declines. These results suggest that the potential consequences of the winner–loser gap for regime stability are highly dependent on the democratic attributes of the political context.

scholarly journals Studies about the Quality of Democracy in Brazil: The Inter-institutional Accountability Dimension

1970 ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Vicente Fonseca ◽  
Carlos F. Domínguez Avila ◽  
Henry Aniagoa Kifordu
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Institutional Accountability ◽  
Independent Information ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
High Level ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Made In

The quality of democracy in Brazil can be analyzed and studied through seven dimensions based on Leornardo Morlino´s thought. It follows that the intellectual effort made in this article is centered on ‘Inter-institutional Accountability Dimension’. The studies’ objective is to describe and analyze the sub-dimensional levels of inter-institutional accountability by focusing on the Legislative relations with the Executive; the decisions of the Supreme Court; the Ombudsman and the General Audit of the Union, the Plural and Independent Information and the Bureaucratic Decentralization Models. In this context, we will examine the current political context of the country and seek to confirm the existence of a high level of inter-institutional accountability in Brazil in comparison with other Latin American Countries. Thereby, we will make proposals for improving the situation.

scholarly journals The Democratic Cost of Consecutive Re-election and Presidential Term-Limit Evasion in Latin America

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Karel Kouba ◽  
Jan Pumr
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Synthetic Control Method ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Term Limit ◽  
Election Rule ◽  
Latin American Countries

Abstract Despite theoretical arguments suggesting the strong effects of presidential term limits and re-election on democracy, there is surprisingly little empirical evidence to evaluate them. We test both the effect on democracy of the existence of a consecutive re-election rule and of reforms introducing it for incumbent presidents. Using evidence from Latin American countries between 1945 and 2018, we test their relationship to both vertical and horizontal accountability. A synthetic control method is employed to account for the effect of term-limit reforms, and time-series cross-section models for modelling the association with the re-election rule. Both vertical and horizontal accountability as well as the quality of democracy are eroded by term-limit evasion reforms in most countries and strengthened in none between 1990 and 2018. Allowing presidents to run for re-election – relative to term-limited ones – is consistently associated with weak democratic outcomes.

scholarly journals The Impact of Constitutional Replacements on the Quality of Democracy in Latin America

Politologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-128
Author(s):  
Orestas Strauka
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Party System ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
And Inversion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Latin American Countries

The article aims to evaluate whether and how constitutional replacements influence the quality of democracy in Latin American countries. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method is applied while analysing 18 Latin American countries. The objective of the article- nine new constitutions that are assigned to the new constitutionalism period. The results reveal that constitutional replacements are neither sufficient nor necessary condition for quality of democracy. On the contrary, the parsimonious solution shows that quality of democracy can be explained by both high levels of education and inversion of constitutional replacements and inversion of constitutional replacements, institutionalised party system and non-homogeneous society. Inversion of quality of democracy analysis indicated that constitutional replacements, together with other conditions, form sufficient conditions for inversion of quality of democracy.  

Trust, Populism, and the Quality of Government

2021 ◽  
pp. 248-267
Author(s):  
Philip Keefer ◽  
Carlos Scartascini ◽  
Razvan Vlaicu
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Electoral Strategies ◽  
Latin American Countries

Why do voters elect politicians whose populist policies degrade the quality of government? Low social trust can account for this paradox: it undermines the collective action by voters that is necessary to elect politicians who support high-quality government. If all voters believe that every other voter will accept particularistic benefits in exchange for supporting poorly performing governments, no voter has an incentive to spurn those benefits in order to select politicians who promise high-quality government. By the same logic, low social trust prevents voters from sanctioning politicians who renege on their promises. Low political trust springs from social mistrust, yielding low-quality government and populism as optimal electoral strategies. New survey data from seven Latin American countries reveal that respondents who exhibit low social trust are more likely to prefer populist policies that reflect a low quality of government.

Education, democratic governance, and satisfaction with democracy: Multilevel evidence from Latin America

2020 ◽  
pp. 019251212095287
Author(s):  
Alejandro Monsiváis-Carrillo ◽  
Gabriela Cantú Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Latin American Countries

It is usually recognized that satisfaction with democracy is enhanced by clean governments and fair democratic procedures. However, under certain circumstances, some citizens might appreciate the quality of democratic governance more than others. Building on research that underlines the accuracy and norm-inducing functions of education, we argue that the quality of democratic governance conditions the relationship between education and satisfaction with democracy. Analyzing data from 18 Latin American countries, we find that higher-educated citizens are less satisfied with the regime than the less-educated. Among the highly educated, nonetheless, the least satisfied are those who were asked by public officials to pay bribes. Highly educated individuals are more satisfied with the regime if their country’s quality of democracy is robust rather than weak. At the lowest level of education, the conditional influence of being asked for a bribe or the quality of democracy is absent.

What is Happening in the United States? How Social Classes Influence the Political Life of the Country and its Health and Quality of Life

2021 ◽  
pp. 002073142199484
Author(s):  
Vicente Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
United States ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Race And Gender

This article analyses the political changes that have been occurring in the United States (including the elections for the presidency of the country) and their consequences for the health and quality of life of the population. A major thesis of this article is that there is a need to analyse, besides race and gender, other categories of power - such as social class - in order to understand what happens in the country. While the class structure of the United States is similar to that of major Western European countries, the political context is very different. The U.S. political context has resulted in the very limited power of its working class, which explains the scarcity of labor, political and social rights in the country, such as universal access to health care.

AB0306 Employment and Quality of Life Among Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Four Latin-American Countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (Suppl 2) ◽  
pp. 996.1-996
Author(s):  
R.M. Xavier ◽  
J. Morales-Torres ◽  
D.C.R. Ramos-Remus ◽  
P. Chalem ◽  
J.F. Molina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Latin American Countries

The Anti-Incumbent Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Sanches Corrêa ◽  
José Antonio Cheibub
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfer ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfer Programs ◽  
Latin American Countries

AbstractScholars concur that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have a strong proincumbent effect among beneficiaries. Although no study has properly focused on the overall effect of cash transfers on incumbents' national vote shares, most scholars have deduced that this effect is positive; i.e., that cash transfers lead to the expansion of incumbents' electoral bases. This article analyzes survey data from nearly all Latin American countries and confirms that beneficiaries of CCT programs are more likely to support incumbents. However, it also shows that CCT programs may induce many voters who were previously incumbent supporters to vote for the opposition. As a consequence, the overall impact of cash transfers on incumbents' vote shares is indeterminate; it depends on the balance between both patterns of behavioral changes among voters. This study is the first to report evidence that cash transfer programs may have significant anti-incumbent effects.

scholarly journals Marktgesellschaft und die Veränderung von Politikmustern

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (97) ◽  
pp. 549-561
Author(s):  
Norbert Lechner
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Market Society ◽  
Symbolic Representations ◽  
Latin American Countries

The article investigates the effects of extensive enforcement of the market society on the pattems of politics in the example of the Latin American countries. The institutionalized politics as well as the »political« (the symbolic representations of the collective order) undergo a transformation, during which the context and the meaning of democracy is changed. Instead of politics being trapped within the mere market logic and only reacting to challenges, a policy which tries toregulate social processes with the aim of a collective order for the collectivity is necessary.

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