Post on 16-Dec-2015
description
What Qualities of Democracy
in Latin America. A Few Research Results
Leonardo Morlino
Luiss, Rome (Italy)
I Congreso Peruano de Estudios Electorales.
Lima, 18 de Octubre 2012
Previous relevant works on the region
ODonnell & others on Costa Rica
Levine and Molina
Booth & Seligson
Altman and Perez-Lian
A few others
The main problems in the research on the topic
risk of over-simplication, especially the
quantitative analyses
generally static approaches
ambiguous meaning of 'quality'
confusion with democratic governance
explanation is often 'forgotten
My contribution
present a more comprehensive theoretical definition of democratic quality
justify the dimensions/qualities included
Stress the normative aspects to be analyzedempirically
implement an analytic tool suited for the analysis of democratic quality
The outline
Theoretical framework
First, few data and some discussion
A few concluding remarks and future
developments
Key definitions
Minimalist democracy
Ideal democracy
What is quality
What are the qualities
Minimalist definition of democracy
a regime with at least:
universal, adult suffrage;
recurring, free, competitive and fair elections;
more than one political party;
more than one source of information
Plus: no non elected group or people with decision making political power and no external power with similar prerogatives (territorial independence)
Ideal Democracy
the political regime that aims to the full
implementation of freedom and
equality/solidarity through a full-fledged
guarantee of rights and adequate institutions
Main normative models of democracy
1. liberal, representative democracy;
2. responsive democracy;
3. participatory democracy;
4. deliberative democracy;
5. associative democracy;
6. egalitarian or social democracy
(property-owning democracy - Rawls);
7. good governance;
8. good democracy.
Not included: self-definition
Meanings of quality
1. a product is the result of a exact, controlledprocess carried out according to precise, recurringmethods and timing (procedure);
2. the structural characteristics of a product (design,materials, functioning of the good, or otherdetails) (content);
3. indirectly derived from the satisfaction expressedby the customer, who requests again the sameproduct or service (result).
Democratic qualities
procedures:
Rule of law
Electoral Accountability
Inter-institutional Accountability
Participation
Competition
Result:
Responsiveness
Content:
Freedom
Equality/solidarity
TODEM: dimensions, sub-dimensions, indicators
Dimens. Sub-dimensions indicators
Rule of law Individual security and civil order; Independent
judiciary Institutional and administrative capacity;
Absence of corruption; Civil control of military
Physical Integrity Rights; Index Independence of the central
judicial organ(s); Government effectiveness; Corruption
Perceptions Index; Executive Power over Military Force
Elec Account Free fair recurrent elections; Plural/ independent
information; Freedom of party organization-
related aspects; Presence/ stability of alternatives
Electoral Process; Freedom of the press; Freedom of
Assembly and Association; alternation index
Inst Account Legislative-Executive relations; Constitutional
Court; Ombudsman; Audit Courts; Modes/extent
of decentralization
Executive Constraints; Constitutional Court; Ombudsman;
Specialized courts in the constitution; Federalism Index
Competition Competition among Actors; Competition within
Actors; Effective Alternation; Opposition
Strength; size of the opposition
Competition; Fractionalization of the Party systems,
Fractionalization Opposition Vote Share (%)
Participation Opportunities for Participation; Election Turnout;
Political Participation; Illegal Political Participation
Rights of participation; turnout in Parliamentary Election;
Petitions; Boycotts; Demonstrations; Unofficial strikes;
Occupying buildings
Freedom Personal Dignity; Civil Rights; Political Rights Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights Empowerment
Rights Index Political Rights
Equality Distribution of Resources; Existence of Economic
Discrimination; Social security and cultural rights
Gini Index Womens Economic Rights Human Development
Index
Responsiven. Perceived Legitimacy; Constraints to
Responsiveness
Satisfaction with the way democracy develops; Confidence
in Parliament; Public debt (% GDP)
The empirical sources
Statistical analysis based on indicators for the
different dimensions:
Sources: CC Project, CIRI, FH, IDEA,
LatinoBarometro, Polity IV, TI, UNDP, UNU-
WIDER, and others.
Sets of reports per country
Quality of democracy in L. America: A summary
Country RL EAcc. I-I.Acc. PP PC Res F E Total
Uruguay 3,84 4,62 3,40 3,53 4,50 4,50 4,33 3,83 4,07
Costa Rica 3,78 4,65 3,84 3,29 4,00 4,50 4,25 3,47 3,97
Chile 3,85 4,62 3,66 3,48 4,00 3,25 4,00 3,30 3,77
Argentina 2,90 4,30 3,54 3,40 3,83 4,00 3,83 3,05 3,61
Brazil 2,83 4,23 3,90 3,43 4,33 3,88 3,50 2,50 3,57
Colombia 2,19 3,83 3,42 3,23 3,33 4,13 2,90 2,28 3,16
Bolivia 2,49 3,82 2,76 3,38 3,75 3,75 3,00 1,67 3,08
Ecuador 2,31 3,86 3,20 2,67 3,50 3,10 2,83 2,17 2,95
Mexico 2,04 4,08 3,28 2,82 2,50 2,75 3,00 2,33 2,85
Paraguay 2,42 3,53 2,95 2,83 2,75 2,25 3,13 2,55 2,80
Peru 2,12 3,85 2,35 2,78 3,67 2,75 2,33 2,25 2,76
Venezuela 1,96 3,49 2,50 2,75 2,50 2,88 2,58 3,00 2,71
Nicaragua 1,97 3,41 2,68 2,96 3,17 2,50 2,08 2,00 2,60
El Salvador 2,09 3,70 2,64 2,11 2,50 2,88 2,17 2,17 2,53
Guatemala 1,88 3,57 2,51 2,34 3,17 2,63 2,08 1,42 2,45
The Lowest Quality Democracies
Evolution of corruption and poverty
in Venezuela, 1989 2010
The Highest Quality Democracies
The most unequal democracies
Un-Rule of Law: the rank order of sub-dimensions
CountryInd. security
and civil order
Ind. Judiciary &
modern justice
Institut. &
admin. capacityIntegrity
Sec. forces
under civilian
control
Guatemala 4 4 5 6 3 1.88
Venezuela 5 9 2 3 4 1.96
Nicaragua 7 7 3 5 2 1.97
Mexico 1 6 12 8 6 2.04
El Salvador 6 3 9 11 1 2.09
Peru 2 1 8 12 7 2.12
Colombia 3 10 7 9 4 2.19
Ecuador 9 8 4 2 8 2.31
Paraguay 10 5 1 1 11 2.42
Bolivia 12 1 6 4 9 2.49
Brazil 7 12 11 10 11 2.83
Argentina 11 11 10 7 11 2.90
Costa Rica 15 13 13 13 15 3.78
Uruguay 14 15 14 14 14 3.84
Chile 13 14 15 15 10 3.85
Independence of the judiciary, 1990 - 2010
Political Participation and Political Competition:
the rank order
Country Participation Competition
El Salvador 1 1
Venezuela 4 1
Mexico 6 1
Paraguay 7 4
Guatemala 2 5
Nicaragua 7 5
Colombia 9 7
Ecuador 3 8
Peru 5 9
Bolivia 11 10
Argentina 12 11
Costa Rica 10 12
Chile 14 12
Brazil 13 14
Uruguay 15 15
Participation and Competition vis--vis
Freedom and Equality: the rank order
Country Participation/Competition Freedom/Equality difference Guatemala 4 1 3 Nicaragua 8 2 6 El Salvador 1 3 2 Bolivia 7 4 3 Ecuador 6 5 1 Peru 6 5 1 Colombia 9 7 2 Mexico 3 8 5 Venezuela 2 9 7 Paraguay 5 10 5 Brazil 14 11 3 Argentina 12 12 0 Chile 13 13 0 Costa Rica 11 14 3 Uruguay 15 15 0
Responsiveness Compared
Concluding remarks
strong correlation and internal consistency among the different dimensions of democratic quality.
little evidence of neo-populist democracy (high levels of participation together with low accountability & competition).
high quality democracies in the region (Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, and, to a lesser extent, Argentina and Brazil) exhibit high scores and successful performances in most of the different components of the democratic quality.
low quality democracies concentrated in Central America (El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala) fare poorly in virtually all these underlying dimensions.
The exception to take into account: Venezuela
the visible deterioration of most of the
procedural and substantive dimensions and
especially rule of law and accountability has
been accompanied by sustained improvements
in at least one of the outcome components
equality, and more precisely, the economic sub-
dimension of equality.
Future developments (I)
the results reported here are essentially preliminary: more sophisticated empirical methods and deeper theoretical reflection are needed to better understand the main determinants of the evolution of the quality of democracy in the region.
a continuously underperforming democracy runs the risk of alienating the citizens, rendering them dangerously disillusioned about the value of democracy itself, and even potentially undermining its stability or survival.
Future developments (II)
Even in the case of a successful democracy like Chile, popular disappointment about the way some of the aspects of democracy work in practice may undermine trust in and support for democratic institutions.
Political and economic decision aimed at enhancing the quality of democracy and its component dimensions seems vital to ensure the continuation and strengthening of democratic life in Latin America.