Charles L. Davis

The Influence of Party Systems on Citizens’ Perceptions of Corruption and Electoral Response in Latin America

This study examines how different party systems in Latin America affect the capability of opposition parties to use public concerns about political corruption for electoral mobilization. Opposition partisanship is more strongly linked to perceptions of corruption in the ideologically polarized party system of Chile than in the hegemonic party system then in decline in Mexico or in the centrist two-party system of Costa Rica. However, the capability of opposition parties in all three party systems to mobilize electoral support among voters dissatisfied with corruption is weakened by the tendency of these politically alienated citizens to withdrawfrom all types of political involvement. Implications of the findings for redressing problems of political corruption through the electoral process and for a deepening of democracy in Latin America are discussed.

Presidential popularity in a context of economic crisis and political change: The case of Mexico

The study shows how presidential approval ratings in Mexico during an era of crisis have been shaped by citizen reactions to environmental conditions but also by the effects of the transition toward a more competitive electoral system. Regime transitions toward greater democracy in Latin America and elsewhere may hold important implications for the formation of public opinion and mass political behavior.

The Psychological Bases of Regime Support among Urban Workers in Venezuela and Mexico: Instrumental or Expressive?

Most recent studies of political behavior in Latin America have stressed the instrumental basis of lower-class political preferences and activity. This study examines empirically the relative influence of symbolic and normative orientations to politics and of economic utility on the political preferences and attitudes of urban workers in Mexico and Venezuela. In both countries, symbolic and normative orientations are found to exert a more powerful influence on regime support than does economic advantage or receipt of material benefits. We speculate on conditions that might shape the relative influence of instrumental versus expressive orientations to politics on the political preferences and behavior of the lower classes in Latin America.

Labor and the State Union Incorporation and Working-Class Politicization in Latin America

To assess corporatist interest intermediation as a mechanism of social control in Venezuela and Mexico, we compare the political attitudes and behavior of workers exposed to corporatist controls to those of other workers. Specifically, the politicization of workers who belong to unions dominated by hegemonic political parties is compared to that of workers affiliated with “autonomous unions” and to that of nonunionized workers. Using survey data collected in 1979 and 1980, it is found that workers who belong to official unions are not more likely to be system supportive than other workers. This pattern holds in both regime settings and for both strategic and nonstrategic industries. We discuss the implications that these findings have on the renegotiation of incorporative bargains between labor movements and hegemonic parties.

Political Regimes and the Socioeconomic Resource Model of Political Mobilization: Some Venezuelan and Mexican Data

The theoretical issue addressed is why do micro-level relationships between socioeconomic status and political participation vary cross-nationally. Alternative theories that might explain differences in these relationships between comparable samples of Venezuelan and Mexican workers are empirically assessed. The observed differences between samples could not be explained by the Verba, Nie, and Kim (1978) differential group mobilization theory. Rather, these differences are traced to the effects of authoritarian structures in Mexico on (1) the acquisition of motivations to participate and (2) the conversion of motivations into actual participation.

Racial Politics in Central Kentucky during the Post–Reconstruction Era: Bourbon County, 1877–1899

Race was a major factor in shaping politics in the postbellum s outh during the late nineteenth century, and it has continued to shape the politics of the region until the present day. From the creation of biracial governance during the Reconstruction era, to Redemption and the rise of the white democratic Party in the 1870s and 1880s, to disfranchisement at the end of nineteenth century in the early twentieth century and the creation of the one-party system, and to reenfranchisement with the Voting Rights act (1965) and the rise of Republican hegemony in our own time, race has been a major factor in shaping southern politics. Partisan alignments and election outcomes, the style of political campaigning, and both the formal and informal electoral rules of various southern states cannot be understood apart from patterns of racial stratification. t he importance of race in shaping past and present southern politics is beyond question. By contrast, historians and political analysts have generally downplayed the historical importance of race as politically consequential in Kentucky and in other border states. t he fact that white Kentuckians often embraced a

The Railroad Expansion Controversy in Postbellum Bourbon County: Conflicting Economic Interests and Ideological Perspectives among Urban and Rural Elites

in the decades following the Civil War, a controversy over railroad expansion erupted in bourbon County, located just north of lexington. The controversy centered on the issue of whether an east-west route ought to complement the north-south route from Cincinnati, which had been constructed prior to the Civil War. The issue was contested at the local level because public financing of railroad construction was largely implemented in Kentucky through municipal and county subscriptions to railroad securities. The Kentucky Constitution of 1850 eliminated state funding, and federal funding was not a viable option for intrastate lines. private financing provided only limited capital because of the prohibitive cost of railroad construction.1 Railroad companies were chartered by a special act of the state legislature. once incorporated, promoters, usually major stockhold-

Venezuela: Public Opinion and Protest in a Fragile Democracy

tions of significance to the rule of law and reforms related thereto) with crossregional examples. Additionally, there is more detailed case material presented from Argentina and Venezuela. Overall, each chapter is quite informative and provides the basis for further research on this general topic. The concluding chapter details some key issues that go beyond the idea that better courts mean better application of the laws. Rather, Ungar ties the issues relevant to the rule of law to fundamental issues of democracy and growth. Specifically he notes that a healthy judiciary (and commensurate institutions related to the rule of law) profoundly affects the quality of democracy by providing a means of accountability and by insuring that public policies made by democratically elected officials are indeed put into practice. Another fundamental issue is that the proper application of property rights and the consistent application of the law in the economic sphere is a necessity for the furtherance of economic growth. The mundane world of banking and financial regulations, laws governing small businesses, and the regulation of large corporations are all key elements to a healthy economy—and are bread-and-butter rule of law issues. Overall, this book makes a contribution to the literature on democratization in general, and the courts/rule of law specifically. An important element in the book is the focus on institutions outside of the courts. The basis of the study could be enhanced by in-depth case studies from the region based on the framework presented by Ungar.