Violence and satisfaction with democracy in Brazil

Abstract

Democracy is a political regime characterized both by the use of non-violent procedures to choose leaders, and by the democratic values and attitudes of its people. Democracy is based on interpersonal trust that ensures cooperation between individuals. Democratic systems function as a way of solving collective action problems by allocating citizens’ resources to promote public benefits. Hence, an individual’s satisfaction with the regime depends on the perception of other people as a cooperative. Moreover, institutional efficiency has an impact on public opinion; democracies that do not produce enough public goods tend to receive less support from their populations. In this article, we investigate the effects of criminological variables on satisfaction with democracy in Brazil, testing the hypothesis that there is both a direct effect—reducing instrumental support of the regime—and an Indirect effect—reducing interpersonal trust. We test this hypothesis with data from the 2014 AmericasBarometer. Tests conducted via linear regression models, simultaneous equations, and non-parametric models corroborate this hypothesis. However, causal mediation models, a more rigorous way of testing this hypothesis, revealed no significant indirect effects.

violence; satisfaction with democracy; Brazil; direct and indirect efects