The Independent Variable Problem: Evaluating Alternative Measures of Attitudes towards Democracy.

Explanation, conceptualization, and measurement of attitudes towards democracy have gained new laudable methodological practices but show an important flaw yet. In recent years, it have had innovative and important discussion about the validity of these measurements (i.e. Canache, 2006, Gibson 2006; Schedler and Sarsfield 2007, Doreenspleet 2008; Carlyn and Singer 2008), and the determinants of attitudes toward democracy in different regions and countries (i.e. Rose, Mishler and Haerpfer1998, Bratton and Mattes 2001, Tessler 2002). However, to varying degrees, the existing measures of attitudes towards democracy fail in a fundamental side: measures of legitimacy of democracy don’t explore their theoretical relevance, that is, what and how much these measures explain other political attitudes and behavior. Using data from Latinobarometer and Word Value Survey, this paper explores the capability of explanation of different measures of attitudes towards democracy for two dimensions of political behavior very relevant for democratic stability: vote for “extra- systemic” candidate and political violence. Introducing this theoretical approach, this work seeks to contribute to the construction of better data on the democratic legitimacy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]