2) Research field – Studies on democracy and political behavior
What do we know about (dis)satisfaction with democracy in Brazil? Evaluative orientations of the democratic regime according to Brazilians in the recent democratic time period (2002–2014)
Project current status: Concluded
Fabíola Brigante Del Porto
On through
FAPESP Auxílio à pesquisa (2016/05619-7)
Abstract
The general goal of this project is to undertake an in-depth study of the concept of satisfaction with democracy in Brazil based on longitudinal analysis of individual-level measures from national surveys for the recent democratic time period (2002–2014). Understanding satisfaction with democracy as a multifaceted phenomenon, the project analyzes the dimensions of evaluations of the government at the time, of representative institutions, of public services and policies, and of the norms and procedures of the regime, verifying which dimensions are most important to shaping the general (dis)satisfaction of citizens with democracy in the recent Brazilian scenario. The specific objectives are: 1. To review the international and national bibliography on democratic legitimacy and effectiveness, discontent, dissatisfaction, and political support to conceptualize satisfaction with democracy; 2. To empirically analyze the correlates of the measure of satisfaction with the functioning of democracy in different research instruments and longitudinally in order to verify possible variations and/or ambiguities in the measure; 3. To approach the assessment of the democratic regime as a multidimensional construct in order to advance the understanding of perceptions that citizens have about the performance of the democratic regime, understanding which dimensions of the regime citizens evaluate and 4. To verify if the contents of the satisfaction with democracy are different for groups of individuals with distinct social divisions. In addition to the understanding of the satisfaction with democracy in multidimensional terms, the project aims to contribute to studies of political support in Brazil, by including in the analysis, the perceptions about normative aspects of representative democracy, such as voting, elections and the representative capacity of the system. The hypothesis indicates that levels of satisfaction with the democratic regime are conditioned not only by the evaluation of its results, but also by the effectiveness of its normative aspects. It is the inclusion of this perception of procedures that differentiates the evaluation of democracy in conceptual and empirical terms from the evaluation of those in power.
Project team
Fabíola Brigante Del Porto
CESOP / UNICAMP