Asymmetric explanations for the distrust in political parties in Brazil

Abstract

Why do Brazilians not trust political parties? This is the key question of this article. This work first analyzes the question by mobilizing the hypotheses advanced in the literature, comprehending rationalist and culturalist arguments. To answer it, we use data from a representative survey in Brazil conducted by Nupps/USP in 2014, executing ordinal logistic regressions. The results show, first, that evaluative hypotheses and interpersonal trust are the determinants of this attitude in the country and, second, that the effects of these hypotheses are asymmetrical, leading to remarks about the conceptual differences between distrust and trust in political parties in Brazil, promoting a better understanding of the dynamics of representation in the country.

trust; political parties; Brazil