The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America : Political Support and Democracy in Eight Nations

Political scientists for more than two decades have worried about declining levels of citizens' support for their regimes (legitimacy), but have failed to empirically link this decline to the survival or breakdown of democracy. This apparent paradox is the "legitimacy puzzle," which this book addresses by examining political legitimacy's structure, sources, and effects. With exhaustive empirical analysis of high-quality survey data from eight Latin American nations, it confirms that legitimacy exists as multiple, distinct dimensions. It finds that one's position in society, education, knowledge, information, and experiences shape legitimacy norms. Contrary to expectations, however, citizens who are unhappy with their government's performance do not drop out of politics or resort mainly to destabilizing protest. Rather, the disaffected citizens of these Latin American democracies participate at high rates in conventional politics and in such alternative arenas as communal improvement and civil society. And despite regime performance problems, citizen support for democracy remains high. These findings resolve the puzzle - citizen actions and values, even among the disaffected, likely strengthen rather than weaken democratic governments. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Dedication......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 List of Figures......Page 11 List of Tables......Page 13 Preface......Page 17 The latin american public opinion project......Page 18 Background to the 2004 survey......Page 19 Acknowledgments......Page 21 1 The Legitimacy Puzzles......Page 23 Prior research on legitimacy......Page 28 Legitimacy’s Structure......Page 30 Legitimacy’s Sources......Page 36 Legitimacy’s Effects......Page 41 Legitimacy in costa rica......Page 46 A pilot research project: the 2002 survey......Page 50 Discussion and plan of this book......Page 56 2 The Structure of Legitimacy......Page 60 The data: the 2004 eight-nation survey......Page 65 Variable selection......Page 69 Findings: the structure of legitimacy......Page 71 Dimensional structure......Page 78 Relationships among dimensions......Page 80 Relative levels of support......Page 81 National patterns of legitimacy......Page 84 Conclusions and measurement decisions: our key variables......Page 86 3 Countries in the Study......Page 88 The eight nations – common features......Page 91 Key differences among the eight countries......Page 95 Mexico......Page 100 Guatemala......Page 102 El Salvador......Page 106 Honduras......Page 109 Nicaragua......Page 111 Costa Rica......Page 114 Panama......Page 117 Colombia......Page 121 The central research question......Page 124 4 The Sources of Political Legitimacy......Page 127 Macrosocial sources of legitimacy......Page 130 Demographic variables......Page 135 Personal experiences and attitudes......Page 138 Results......Page 140 Political community......Page 141 Support for regime principles......Page 143 Support for regime institutions......Page 147 Evaluation of regime performance......Page 151 Support for political actors......Page 155 Support for local government......Page 157 Discussion and conclusions......Page 160 5 Legitimacy and Political Participation......Page 166 Theories about legitimacy and political participation......Page 168 The measures of participation......Page 173 Analysis and results: legitimacy’s effects on participation......Page 175 Partisan and campaign activism......Page 180 Contacting public officials......Page 184 Communal activism......Page 187 Civil society activism......Page 188 Protest participation......Page 189 Discussion and conclusions......Page 192 6 Legitimacy and Negative Political Capital......Page 199 Measuring negative political capital......Page 200 Willingness to accept the violent overthrow of an elected government......Page 204 Support for a coup d’etat......Page 207 Approval of confrontational political tactics......Page 211 Vigilantism......Page 212 Discussion and conclusions......Page 217 7 Legitimacy and Democratic Values......Page 223 Legitimacy and opposition to authoritarian rule......Page 225 The perceived supply of democracy and legitimacy......Page 229 The democracy demand-supply gap......Page 235 Huntington’s question: legitimacy, participation, and democracy......Page 237 Conclusions......Page 240 8 The Sky Is Not Falling: The Puzzle Solved......Page 243 The structure of legitimacy......Page 247 Comparative levels of legitimacy......Page 249 Sources of legitimacy......Page 253 Consequences of legitimacy: Its impact on political participation......Page 256 Consequences of legitimacy: Its impact on negative political capital......Page 258 Consequences of legitimacy: Its impact on support for democracy......Page 261 Implications for the eight countries......Page 262 What proportion of citizens is triply dissatisfied?......Page 267 How do the triply dissatisfied behave and what are their attitudes?......Page 271 Solving the puzzle......Page 279 A final word......Page 282 Appendix A: Supporting Data and Analyses for Chapters 1–5......Page 287 Appendix B: Variables Used in the Analyses......Page 313 Appendix C: System-level Performance Measures......Page 321 Appendix D: Nonsampling Errors, Sampling Errors, and Design Effects for the Eight-Nation Survey......Page 323 Appendix E: Method of Constructing the Legitimacy Factor Scores......Page 327 References......Page 331 About the Authors......Page 353 Index......Page 355 Political scientists have worried about the declining support of citizens for their regimes (legitimacy) but have failed to link it empirically to democratic stability. This book addresses the 'legitimacy puzzle', using exhaustive empirical analysis of high-quality survey data from eight Latin American nations. This book examines citizens' attitudes toward the legitimacy of their political systems and the relationship between political legitimacy and democratic stability