¿Legitimidades fragmentadas? Apoyo a la democracia en la región andina

Abstract

Objective/Context: Citizen support for democracy is in question. In the Latin American case, after having increased at the beginning of the 21st century, indicators of support for democracy showed marked decline throughout the last decade. This is particularly evident in the Andean countries, where recent setbacks in the legitimacy of democratic institutions have been accompanied by problematic electoral processes that were deeply questioned by their citizens. Methodology: Using recent data from two of the main sources of comparative public opinion available for Latin America—AmericasBarometer and the World Values Survey— this work focuses on indicators of citizen support for democracy in four countries of the Andean region (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru), investigating the effect of government approval on the evaluation of democracy. The study uses a methodological design that recognizes different levels of support for democracy, to discuss the hypothesis that effects should be different between the levels analyzed. Conclusions: The results show that more concrete levels of support for democracy are more strongly influenced by individual political positions, while the values that sustain democracy are not affected at a statistically significant level. Originality: The methodology allows identifying the multidimensionality of citizen support for democracy and how this support depends on different factors according to the studied level. The conclusions evidence the existence of dynamics common to different societies in relation to democracy.

Keywords

• democracy
• legitimacy
• andean region
• support for democracy