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

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