Political Institutions and Street Protests in Latin America

Arbeitspapier

This paper argues that where institutions are strong, actors are more likely to participate in the political process through institutionalized arenas, while where they are weak, protests and other unconventional means of participation become more appealing. This relationship is explored empirically by combining country-level measures of institutional strength with individual-level information on protest participation in 17 Latin American countries. Evidence is found that weaker political institutions are associated with a higher propensity to use alternative means for expressing preferences, that is, to protest. Also found are interesting interactions between country-level institutional strength and some individual-level determinants of participation in protests.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IDB Working Paper Series ; No. IDB-WP-110

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions ; Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation ; Public Economics: Miscellaneous Issues: Other ; Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
• Subject: Political institutions ; Public policies ; Institutional strength ; Protests ; Alternative Political Technologies ; Political party representation ; Ideology ; Ideological extremism ; Latin America

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Machado, Fabiana ; Scartascini, Carlos ; Tommasi, Mariano
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
• (where): Washington, DC
• (when): 2009

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/89188
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET