Political Culture and Democratic Vulnerability in Latin America
Nearing the end of the 20th century is the time where most democracies emerged in Latin America, but these democracies were greeted with mixed emotions by the people under the new structure. Why did the people of these Latin American countries often tend to reject this change and turn towards a more authoritarian approach, be it under a party, a junta or a charismatic strongman. Some explanation for this could be due to the fact that democracies are not always associated with progress and prosperity, making the authoritarian option much more appealing to the people. This is an interesting issue because if you look at the democratic structure of the United States and how the people are all in agreement with democracy, it really emphasizes the differences between the political cultures of the people in the United States compared to those of the Latin American countries.
The phrase “political culture” refers to the ideals, beliefs, values and evaluations about the political system of their country and where the people believe they stand in terms of the political system, and whether or not they feel they have an individual impact in the system. With that being said, I believe that there is a sense of negative connotation between the views of the people of the Latin American countries and their new democratic structures in the late 20th century. More specifically, the poor people of Latin America most likely to challenge the democratic structure because they during economic crises, there tends to be an increase in the poor population and if the government does not take the proper corrective actions to reduce this trend, the poor are growing and so is the dissatisfaction with democracy. This situation varies largely from our current political culture in the United States today. It’s interesting to see that this is an issue because the Latin American poor population could feel that they do not associate themselves with democracy, whether they feel that their voices go unheard or they feel that the government institutions are more focused on other issues throughout the country rather than attempting to better the poverty stricken areas. This is a sharp contrast in comparison to the political culture of the United States, and a great example of this is the election that just took place. In the United States, voting in the presidential election is something that is widely available for every American citizen and, although sometimes the people you voted for don’t win does not mean that the population as a whole is going to go against the political structure and demand change. And yes, there are many people who disagree with the candidate that did win this current election, but the winner was voted in by the people in a fair election and so long as this structure remains this way, democracy will always remain the only option in the United States.
This is a very different comparison because in Latin America, there are a few reasons that spur the dissatisfaction of democracy throughout the reason. Primarily, the structure of democracy tends to remain stable in wealthy countries with stable economies. Also there is the issue of underdevelopment and unemployment in Latin America and economic crises that tend to attribute to the decline of democracy.