The “Losers’ Consent” and the Legitimacy of Democracy in Latin America
Keywords:
legitimacy, democracy, political culture, losers, probitAbstract
This paper analyzes the effects of citizen perceptions of democratic legitimacy in Latin America. In the aftermath of the electoral processes, citizens who voted for losing candidates, or who cast blank or spoiled ballots, have less of an incentive than those citizens who backed the winning candidates, to support the government whose leaders they did not choose. Based on data from the 2008 Latin American Public Opinion Project (lapop) survey, that centers on ten countries in the region, it was possible to estimate two probit models. These models confirmed that individuals who belonged to the group of “losers” after the elections are less likely to legitimize democracy than those in the group of winners. However, this relation is mediated by political-institutional and attitudinal variablesDownloads
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