Resumen

VAIRO, Daniela. The "Losers' Consent" and the Legitimacy of Democracy in Latin America. Polít. gob [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.1, pp.41-69. ISSN 1665-2037.

This paper analyzes the effects of citizen perceptions of democratic legitimacy in Latin America. In the aftermath of the electoral processes, citizens who voted for losing candidates, orwho castblank or spoiled ballots, have less of an incentive than those citizens who backed the winning candidates, to support the government whose leaders they did not choose. Based on data from the 2008 Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) survey, that centers on ten countries in the region, it was possible to estimate two probit models. These models confirmed that individuals who belonged to the group of "losers" after the elections are less likely to legitimize democracy than those in the group of winners. However, this relation is mediated by political-institutional and attitudinal variables.

Palabras llave : legitimacy; democracy; political culture; losers; probit.

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