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.