People’s Verdict

Democracy within Latin America has diverse interpretations among its populace, with each country bestowing their own ideas and beliefs on what democracy not only means to them, but what factors influence them, that will ultimately call for democracy or some other form of government. For as mentioned in the readings for this week, democracy is not the only possibility that is present as a form of government, for authoritarian law has garnered some support and progression over the years among much of Latin American countries.

Over the years, various countries in Latin America have diversified their understanding of democracy and what it mean to them, where several surveys have shown that although most people “expressed unconditional preference for democracy,” there is also a staggering representation of people who, in a sense, do not care either way as to which form of government is more preferred over another. This particular insight is notable for the vital significance it represents in the overall understanding of how important democracy is to some and how it makes no difference to others. As can be seen within Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica, democracy hit a greater democracy downward spiral, whereas countries like Argentina and Brazil have maintained a fairly stable or close relationship to democracy over the years. So what exactly causes these various representations among different countries in Latin America?

Many factors portray interesting insights as to why some people prefer democracy over others. As mentioned in the reading, social class, or standings, provides to be a significant determining factor. Surprisingly, outcomes show that the upper class were in fact more supportive of democracy, whereas the lower class were least supportive, which is curious given the fact that the lower class would have most likely benefited more by the means of democracy. This could be a leading cause as to why Argentina and Mexico, just two examples, differ in their means of democracy, focusing particularly on each particular populace’s views on this given subject, for Argentina has, more or less, maintained a comfortable middle class for quite some time, whereas Mexico’s emergence of the middle class is fairly new in comparison. In both cases, the upper-middle classes found democracy to be of the most reasonable, yet with the development of the upper and middle classes, the issue of inequality still provides a cause and effect scenario within Latin American countries, inevitably resulting in the overall decision making of whether democracy is the answer or not.