Political Disengagement and Institiutional Disaffection in México: Challenges for the Quality of Democracy?

Abstract

Attitudcs of politicil disaffection by citizens have increased in recent decades
in almost every democracy around the world. Using the Americas Barometer LAPOP 2010. I show, on ene hand, that actitudes of politlcal disaffection in México are cióse to the regional mean and, on the ocher, I corroborate the theoretical postúlate according lo which individuáis distinguish two dimensions of disaffection: political disengagcment and institucional disaffection. I aiso demónstrate that tlie rational-culturalist model effectively e.xplainsche variations of both dimensions —as it allows for che interacción of socio-economic factors,racional evaluación and political identitics—. Lastiy, I find that political disengagement and institucional disaffection associace in a differentway wich political participación, access to información in the media, and percepcions on public security and corrupción. These results confirm the premise that che dimensions of political disaffectionrepresent a challenge to the qualicy of democracy in México, as they reinforce social inequality, inhibit informed political participación and limit citizen concrol of institutions and politicians