Regime Support Beyond the Balance Sheet
Participation and Policy Performance in Latin America

Offers a new theory of regime support to explain why citizen support for regimes does not always match policy performance.

Matthew Rhodes-Purdy (Author)

9781108413305, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 February 2020

280 pages
23 x 15 x 1.9 cm, 0.35 kg

'By analyzing the striking gaps between democratic performance and regime support in Chile and Venezuela, this outstanding, innovative book demonstrates the crucial role of opportunities for citizen participation. Through a multi-methods Comparative analysis, Rhodes-Purdy thus elucidates age-old questions of political theory. Highly recommended!' Kurt Weyland, Mike Hogg Professor in Liberal Arts, University of Texas, Austin

This book challenges the conventional wisdom that policy performance is the most important determinant of regime support. It does so by focusing on two countries where performance and support do not match. Chile is the economic envy of every country in Latin America, yet support has been surprisingly anemic. By contrast, Venezuela managed to maintain extremely high levels of support during the reign of Hugo Chávez despite severe failures of governance. Resolution of these paradoxes requires turning away from policy decisions and focusing instead on how those decisions are made. Taking inspiration from democratic theory and social psychology, this book argues that extensive opportunities for direct participation in the political process engenders in citizens strong feelings of efficacy - a sense of control over the course of politics. Rhodes-Purdy uses a mixed-methods approach to test this theory, including qualitative case studies, analysis of survey data, and experimental methods.

1. Introduction
2. Conceptualizations and existing explanations of regime support
3. Participatory opportunities, efficacy, and regime support
4. Attitudinal antecedents of regime support: a statistical analysis
5. Participatory populism: hegemony, self-governance, and regime support in Bolivarian Venezuela
6. The other liberalism: laissez-faire, protected democracy, and support in Chile
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Political science & theory [JPA], Politics & government [JP]