Political Culture in Latin America
The Economist reports on the latest Latinobarómetro poll taken this fall.If you assigned your students to seek hypothetical reasons for national differences in preferences for democracy, reported below (or other survey results), what would they propose? How would they attempt to verify their hypotheses? Could they evaluate the hypothesis about Peru in the excerpt below?
Democracy and the downturn
"FIVE years of strong economic growth have prompted a slow but fairly steady rise in support for democracy and its institutions among Latin Americans, although many remain frustrated by the way their political systems work in practice. Most see themselves as politically moderate, but they retain a yearning for strong leaders and expect the state to solve their problems...
"The poll underlines the fact that a small majority of respondents are convinced democrats... In 12 countries, support for democracy has risen since 2001, when the region last suffered an economic recession. But only in five countries is it higher than it was in 1996..."Uruguayans are by far the most satisfied with how their democracy works (see chart at left). Peruvians are particularly disgruntled. That is paradoxical: Peru’s economy has grown faster than that of any other of the region’s bigger countries both this year and last. Their discontent seems to reflect deep flaws in the political system...
"The relative dissatisfaction owes much to the deep-rooted socioeconomic inequalities in Latin America. Across the region 70% of respondents agreed that governments favour the interests of the privileged few; around half say they would not mind a non-democratic government if it solved economic problems; a similar proportion say democracy has not reduced inequalities; and only 30% think there is equality before the law...
"But most respondents are convinced that democracy is the only road to development—and 71% say they are personally happy. So why the grumbles? As democracy has come to stay in the region, “people are more conscious of their rights and their expectations are higher”, says Marta Lagos, Latinobarómetro’s director..."
See also:
- Latinobarómetro
- Eurobarometer on European Values
- Key Findings of Aftrobarometer
- Asia Barometer data (2008 survey results will be published soon)
Labels: concepts, pedagogy, political culture, theory
posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:46 AM
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