Democratic Accountability: Issue Congruence and Clientelism in Latin America

• In Event: Brokers and Clientelism

Abstract

This paper examines the level of issue congruence between voters and representatives in 17 Latin American countries. In contrast to the common approach that looks at the distance between the mean voter and the mean legislator along the ideological spectrum, congruence is analyzed by looking at the difference between voters’ and representatives’ distributions of positions on different issues. Analysis at the party and country level is carried out for three sets of issues: 1) support for democracy and satisfaction with democracy, 2) the importance of crime and the importance of corruption, and 3) the participation of the government in the economy, in the generation of employment, in the provision of pensions and in the provision of health services. The level of clientelism of individual political parties and of the party system is found to be associated to the level of congruence between voters and representatives.

Author

• Zoila I Ponce de Leon Seijas, UNC Chapel Hill