Social Capital and Democratic Governance

• In Event: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries Virtual Poster Session 2

Abstract

Latin America is in the midst of a relatively stable period of democracy. However, some challenges remain such as processing the demands from citizens and increasing governance. Theories on political culture and citizens’ participation have been the basis for an extensive set of studies relating citizens’ attitudes to democracy. Yet despite the outpouring of research, there has been little attempt to test the micro foundations that explain democratic governance. In this article, we present a broader theoretical framework for conceptualizing democratic governance and analyzing it based on inter-personal dynamics related to social capital from a comparative viewpoint.
The article makes two assumptions: that the level of interpersonal and institutional trust affects the way people perceive democracy and that there is significant variation depending on how democratic processes have evolved in different countries. We draw upon survey data from the World Values Surveys to test the hypothesis of what factors affect the creation of governance. The contribution of this paper is to provide a depth discussion about how interpersonal attributes interact with institutional features from a comparative perspective.

Authors

• Andres Casas

• Nathalie Mendez, Universidad de los Andes

• Ricardo Ignacio González, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez