José Álvaro Moisés

Democratization and Participation: Comparing Spain, Brazil, and Korea

This paper tests a model of cross-national variation in participation, using survey data from Spain, Brazil, and Korea. We posit a continuum ranging from neighborhood ties through membership in voluntary associations to political participation. The gap between Spain and peer countries grows as the continuum shifts from prepolitical to political spheres. Our model highlights three factors-labor market participation, gender, and religiosity-as determinants of cross-national differences in civic engagement. The impact of employment and gender is consistent with previous studies of their role in conditioning participation. By contrast, the religious factor contradicts conventional notions regarding its downward effects on participation. The negative effect of religiosity in Spain and its positive effect in Korea and Brazil are a function of distinctive histories of church-state relations and, in particular, of different strategies of church-sponsored mobilization during the course of democratization.

A desconfiança nas instituições democráticas

Several studies show that brazilians support the democratic regime per se, but, at the same time, reveal a widespread and persistent mistrust of democratic institutions. The author begins presenting the foundations of the contradictory coexistence of both phenomena and after that he reviews the treatment given by literature on political trust and the factors related to it (as political legitimacy and economic performance of governments), pointing limits. He also proposes that trust in institutions is rooted on the evaluation citizens make, based on their experience, about the way institutions perform the mission for which they were created.

Democracia, desconfiança política e insatisfação com o regime – o caso do Brasil

This article analyses the individual basis of the contradictory relationship between levels of distrust to public institutions and levels of support to democracy and satisfaction with the democratic regime observed in Brazil. We discuss the concepts of legitimacy, satisfaction and political trust, and the methodological implications of this problem. We describe and analyse the impact of this aspects over the democratic adhesion. The study is based on the Latinobarometer series data from 1995 to 2002.

Cidadania, confiança e instituições democráticas

O artigo analisa tres questoes pendentes no debate sobre a relacao entre confianca e instituicoes democraticas: 1) Qual a correta aproximacao ao conceito de cidadania, tendo em conta a controversia entre a visao liberal classica e a comunitarista?; 2) O que dizer da premissa das teorias democraticas tradicionais, de que o abuso do poder politico requer a desconfianca, e nao a confianca, das instituicoes?; 3) Admitida a importância da confianca, que vantagens poderiamos extrair ao pensarmos o fenomeno como de natureza multidimensional, contra a tendencia usual de ve-lo como um fenomeno de face unica?

Political discontent in new democracies: the case of Brazil and Latin America

Political changes related to globalization apparently produce similar effects on old and new democracies. All over the world, comparative research on democratization has showed that political distrust is a common variable affecting the whole of the State and the relationship between citizens and democracy. Nevertheless, political discontent in old democracies has stimulated citizens to adopt new attitudes and modes of political participation, while in newly democratized countries citizens tend to withdraw from politics as a consequence of institutional distrust. In fact, in many new democracies, although adhering to the normative meaning of the democratic regime, distrust of democratic institutions is associated to citizens’ negative feeling about political efficacy, low levels of political interest and political participation, and also preference for democratic models which exclude political parties and/or parliaments. This paper evaluates the meanings and consequences of the contemporary phenomenon of p...Political changes related to globalization apparently produce similar effects on old and new democracies. All over the world, comparative research on democratization has showed that political distrust is a common variable affecting the whole of the State and the relationship between citizens and democracy. Nevertheless, political discontent in old democracies has stimulated citizens to adopt new attitudes and modes of political participation, while in newly democratized countries citizens tend to withdraw from politics as a consequence of institutional distrust. In fact, in many new democracies, although adhering to the normative meaning of the democratic regime, distrust of democratic institutions is associated to citizens’ negative feeling about political efficacy, low levels of political interest and political participation, and also preference for democratic models which exclude political parties and/or parliaments. This paper evaluates the meanings and consequences of the contemporary phenomenon of political discontent in Brazil and Latin America and discusses its implications for democratic theory.

Citizens’ Distrust in Democratic Institutions

‘Constant hope is called trust … Constant despair is called distrust …’ Thomas Hobbes, in 1651 Most experts agree that the Brazilian democracy is relatively consolidated. However, it faces a parado...

The Effect of Trust for Democratic Institutions

The problem of trust is nowadays a relevant issue of contemporary studies in sociology and political science about democracy, and it is particularly important for the evaluation of recent democratized countries such as Brazil, Mexico and South Korea. This is so because democratizing processes involve the uncertainties that are typical of the era of transformations that characterizes the changing realm of politics in the last three decades. In ordinary language, trust refers to the security of procedures or beliefs in others with whom one interacts or has a close relationship with. In social sciences, the interest in the concept is directly associated to the concern with informal processes through which people face uncertainties and unpredictable states of being, originating from the complexification of life under a changing, interdependent and globalized world. This scenery is increasingly conditioned by advances in technology and communication, which implies common peoples’ limited knowledge about collective decision-making processes and governmental actions which deeply affect their life. In fact, the demand for social coordination that has given birth to the modern State has been brought up to date in the contemporary era by articulating itself with the demand for social cooperation. In order to be coordinated and to cope, people need to anticipate the behavior of others*and also of political institutions*in as much as the effects of the functioning of social and political rules, norms and procedures that restrict this behavior impact their lives. This is so because institutions perform at least two complementary functions in a democracy: the distribution of power related to relevant decision-making processes and the citizen’s participation in the evaluation and judgment of the results, procedures and contents of those processes. Different authors have argued recently that trust is one of the most important answers to this situation. In the last decades, the concept has been used to designate a great variety of social and political phenomena that, despite putting actors in a risk situation, refers to the necessary social cohesion required by the functioning of complex, unequal and differentiated societies. This is particularly the case of societies

Conclusion: The Support of Political Parties in Latin America

This conclusive chapter discusses the factors that can be associated with public support for political parties in Latin America. First, we have argued that partisan support must be understood in different dimensions: partisan legitimacy, partisan identity, and trust. Since the trustful connection and support of political parties have traditionally been treated indirectly through dubious indicators, such as electoral volatility, interparty competition, and governance, we want to understand further the partisan dynamics from the point of view of the electoral arena. In general, the results suggest the importance of levels of schooling and age for legitimization and identification with political parties. Similarly, although most Latin-American citizens do not identify with political parties, those who consider widespread corruption in recent years legitimize and identify even less with them, including more educated citizens.

Political discontent in old and new democracies

In the last two or three decades, global political changes have affected old and new democracies in different manners. All over the world, comparative research on democratization has showed that political distrust is a common variable affecting the whole of the State and the relationship between citizens and the democratic regime. Nevertheless, while political discontent in old democracies has stimulated citizens to adopt new political attitudes and modes of political participation, and sometimes to defend political reform, in many newly democratized countries citizens tend to withdraw from politics as a consequence of institutional distrust. In fact, in different new democracies, although the majority of the public adheres to the normative meaning of the democratic regime, distrust of democratic institutions is associated with citizens’ negative feelings about political efficacy, low levels of political interest and political participation, and even preference for democratic models which exclude political parties and/or parliaments. This monographic section evaluates then the meanings and consequences of the contemporary phenomenon of political discontent in different countries of the world and discusses its implications for the empirical theory of democracy. Scholars have been engaged in the debate about the meanings of public attitudes towards governments and the political regime for a long time. One of the most common questions of this debate is related to the available indicators concerning trust and confidence in political institutions. Do they reflect a healthy reaction about the critical performance of politicians, political parties and governments or, quite on the contrary, do they signal a loss of citizens’ faith in the main institutions of representative democracy? As some students of the democratic process have pointed out recently, another important issue that remains analytically unclear is related to the distinction between support for democratic principles and support for practical results of the political process (Norris 2011). As the adherence to democratic values is a general characteristic of political regimes in a majority of cases at the present time, is it reasonable to expect that values and principles will gradually spread and generate trust and confidence in the democratic institutions? Or alternatively will the political distrust of politicians and governments and the lack of faith in the public institutions of the regime undermine and corrode not only public expectations, but also the legitimacy of the democratic regime? Legitimacy and the legitimation process lie at the core of the possibilities mentioned above. And in fact, when the analytical models focus on those aspects ofIn the last two or three decades, global political changes have affected old and new democracies in different manners. All over the world, comparative research on democratization has showed that political distrust is a common variable affecting the whole of the State and the relationship between citizens and the democratic regime. Nevertheless, while political discontent in old democracies has stimulated citizens to adopt new political attitudes and modes of political participation, and sometimes to defend political reform, in many newly democratized countries citizens tend to withdraw from politics as a consequence of institutional distrust. In fact, in different new democracies, although the majority of the public adheres to the normative meaning of the democratic regime, distrust of democratic institutions is associated with citizens’ negative feelings about political efficacy, low levels of political interest and political participation, and even preference for democratic models which exclude political parties and/or parliaments. This monographic section evaluates then the meanings and consequences of the contemporary phenomenon of political discontent in different countries of the world and discusses its implications for the empirical theory of democracy. Scholars have been engaged in the debate about the meanings of public attitudes towards governments and the political regime for a long time. One of the most common questions of this debate is related to the available indicators concerning trust and confidence in political institutions. Do they reflect a healthy reaction about the critical performance of politicians, political parties and governments or, quite on the contrary, do they signal a loss of citizens’ faith in the main institutions of representative democracy? As some students of the democratic process have pointed out recently, another important issue that remains analytically unclear is related to the distinction between support for democratic principles and support for practical results of the political process (Norris 2011). As the adherence to democratic values is a general characteristic of political regimes in a majority of cases at the present time, is it reasonable to expect that values and principles will gradually spread and generate trust and confidence in the democratic institutions? Or alternatively will the political distrust of politicians and governments and the lack of faith in the public institutions of the regime undermine and corrode not only public expectations, but also the legitimacy of the democratic regime? Legitimacy and the legitimation process lie at the core of the possibilities mentioned above. And in fact, when the analytical models focus on those aspects of

Democratización y cultura política de masas en Brasil

En visperas del siglo XXI, descubrimos que es la democracia liberal y no las revoluciones socialistas el gran personaje del siglo que se cierra. Este articulo examina preguntas como las siguientes para el caso de Brasil: ?en que medida las masas de las nuevas democracias presentan orientaciones, actitudes y patrones de comportamiento compatibles con el funcionamiento del nuevo sistema politico? ?Hasta donde las exigencias minimas de participacion requeridas por la democracia se perciben como medios adecuados a traves de los cuales los diferentes segmentos pueden presentar sus demandas al sistema politico? ?Las concepciones en torno a la democracia de los distintos segmentos del publico abrigan la alternativa de cambios en el sistema?