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The paper uses survey data from 2004 from eight democracies in Central America, Mexico and Colombia from the Latin American Public Opinion Project to explore political legitimacy and its links to political participation. Theory argues that political legitimacy is multidimensional; this proves empirically correct, producing six legitimacy dimensions. Six modes of political participation are also identified empirically. Prior research on Costa Rica had suggested that some legitimacy-participation functions are U-shaped, such that citizens with very high and very low legitimacy norms would take part in politics more than those with intermediate legitimacy norms. This paper employs OLS regression analysis to test for the effects of legitimacy upon participation, modeling the effect of both linear and quadratic forms of political legitimacy to test for the curvilinear relationships, as well as the influence of multiple intervening and control variables. By far the predominant form of relationship revealed is indeed U-shaped. The paper explores the implications of this finding for both the legitimacy research and for the potential stability of democracies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research identifies sources of interpersonal trust in Latin America by exploring why the most developed countries in the Americas, namely Canada and the United States, show higher levels of interpersonal trust than their neighboring countries. The findings of this paper suggest that Latin America's high economic inequality poses a challenge to democracy because it triggers interpersonal mistrust. This paper also finds that in Latin America interpersonal trust, rather than civic participation, ideology or trust in government, promotes citizens' support for the implementation of public policies aimed to close the gap between rich and poor. Taken together, the results suggest a vicious circle between Latin America's historically high economic inequality, low interpersonal trust, and low support for redistributive policies within certain segments of the population, especially the well-off. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion and foreign policy in Latin America has been sparsely studied in its own right. This paper seeks to test hypotheses drawn from the study of American and comparativist politics. Since the 1920s the impact of public opinion on American foreign policy has been a point of both optimism and dismissal. Liberals have argued that public opinion has the potential to promote peace while pessimists have questioned the stability of public opinion and the ability of the public to make decisions toward foreign policy. Within Latin America, the study of public opinion and foreign policy has been largely overlooked as the emergence of the scientific study of public opinion occurred during a period of authoritarian rule. The rebirth of democracy and liberal economics in Latin America began within the "lost decade" of economic crises of the 1980s. Democratic and structural adjustment reforms since the 1990s have changed the region dramatically making issues of trade a potential touchstone for every citizen. This makes the present the opportune moment to study the public opinion and foreign policy nexus within the Latin American context. Specifically, this paper asks whether public opinion toward economic integration can be predicted by established hypothesis. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 2008 public opinion surveys in eighteen Latin American countries, the paper investigates the parameters of the gender gap in political participation and finds evidence that it is modest. It then explores the relative effects of political context, resources, agency, and political attitudes on women's and men's political involvement. Separate regression equations for women and men allow for investigation of whether different social processes influence the kind and extent of political engagement undertaken by the two sexes. The study utilizes data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project which surveys public opinion and behavior in the Americas. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That leaders with strong democratic records and high exit approval ratings to leaders with weak democratic records and low exit approval ratings (and variations in between) are voted back into office alike poses a puzzle: Why do formers leaders make comebacks and why in the elections in which they do? This paper challenges hypotheses that attribute electoral comebacks to positive performance retrospective voting, to popular appeal or charisma, to the number of alternations of democratic transitions, or most recently, to a preference for familiarity during times of economic volatility and party fragmentation. Instead, this paper posits that it is the persistence of old political coalitions and institutions within the political system that secures comeback efforts. In doing so, it contends that a focus on transitions has overlooked and underestimated instances of continuity in political systems. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion and foreign policy in Latin America has been sparsely studied in its own right. Furthermore, hypotheses regarding regional differences in public opinion between Mexican municipalities are largely ignored. This paper asks: Do existing theories regarding class and race explain differences in regional variations in public opinion toward Mexican foreign policy. This paper utilizes data collected through the American Public Opinion and United States Foreign Policy Series sponsored by Centro de Investigación y Docencia Economicas, Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales, and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. The data consist of a mass public (n=1,500) entitled “Global Views 2004: Mexican Public Opinion and Foreign Policy”. The methodology employed is hierarchical linear modeling. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper derrives from a larger project of surveys in eight Latin American nations. It uses AmericasBarometer data, with samples of 1,500 respondents per country. The focus is on the relationship between negative social capital and legtimacy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explain people's evaluation of democracy in Latin America. We use a cross-sectional, cross country analysis, which includes Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, market reforms and state retrenchment across Latin America have led to varying levels of support for.x000d.state involvement in the provision of welfare and the alleviation of income. Existing theories cannot account for this variation. Both class-power and rationalist explanations predict stability in preferences for.x000d.redistribution. Moreover, given that they focus on individuals' position in the economic structure as the main factor shaping.x000d.preferences, these accounts are unlikely to be useful in the developing world, where economic volatility constantly alters individuals'.x000d.structural positions. I argue that in such contexts, the link between structural-based, objective interests and preferences for redistribution is weakened. Instead, individuals will tend to rely on subjective beliefs to inform their preferences for redistribution; in particular, I focus on beliefs about economic prospects and about general social mobility and equality of opportunity. I carry out an initial probe of my theory using data collected through in-depth interviews with citizens of Peru. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does foreign assistance affect affinity of recipients toward their donors? While some address the altruistic/strategic debate in terms of the effect of aid on aggregate human rights or poverty indicators, few have examined the effect of aid on recipient public opinion towards the donor. Does increasing aid from a particular donor result in an elevated opinion of that donor, in terms of levels of trust in the donor government, confidence in people from the donor country, or how willing people are to see trade expanded with the donor? The Latin Barometer provides public opinion data on trust and affinity for the US, Spain, and Japan, as well as the EU, UN, and World Bank, for respondents from 17 Latin American countries over 8 years. Aggregated to the national level and analyzed alongside aid per capita from these major donors to the region and other political and economic indicators, I will investigate the relationship between levels of aid and public support for donors. Regardless of donor motivations, development assistance may yield higher (or lower) payoffs than donors and scholars currently realize. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]