The Political Culture of Democracy in Colombia, 2011 Democratic Attitudes Post­Uribe Juan Carlos Rodríguez Raga, Ph.D. Universidad de los Andes Mitchell A. Seligson, Ph.D. Vanderbilt University ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… … This study was made possible thanks to support provided by the program for Democracy and Human Rights of the United States Agency for International Development. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the United States Agency for International Development. Bogotá, November 2011 Table of contents 3 Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 3 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................................... 7 LIST OF TABLES ..............................................................................................................................................................11 PROLOGUE: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ....................................................................................................................13 Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................................................................15 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................17 I. CONTEXT AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SAMPLE .......................................................................................................23 Economic context ........................................................................................................................................................................23 Perceptions of the economic situation ...............................................................................................................................26 Political context............................................................................................................................................................................32 Description of the sample ........................................................................................................................................................33 II. DEMOCRATIC AND ANTI­DEMOCRATIC ATTITUDES ..............................................................................................45 Introduction...................................................................................................................................................................................45 Democratic attitudes and values...........................................................................................................................................45 Factors that influence democratic attitudes ....................................................................................................................48 Direct ties between citizen and leader.............................................................................................................................................48 Other factors included in the models................................................................................................................................................50 Ideology and political party affinity ........................................................................................................................................................... 50 Evaluating the administration’s performance ....................................................................................................................................... 51 Evaluating the economy .................................................................................................................................................................................. 51 Sociodemographic characteristics ..............................................................................................................................................................51 Results.............................................................................................................................................................................................................51 Support for democracy .................................................................................................................................................................................... 51 Satisfaction with democracy.......................................................................................................................................................................... 54 Support for the political system................................................................................................................................................................... 56 Anti‐democratic attitudes........................................................................................................................................................58 Attitudes against separation of powers and checks & balances ..........................................................................................58 Attitudes against the opposition and minorities.........................................................................................................................61 Factors that influence anti‐democratic attitudes...........................................................................................................65 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................................................67 Appendix .........................................................................................................................................................................................69 III. STABLE DEMOCRACY AND TRUST IN INSTITUTIONS..........................................................................................71 Introduction...................................................................................................................................................................................71 Stable democracy.........................................................................................................................................................................71 Trust in institutions....................................................................................................................................................................77 Evaluating the administration and Congress...................................................................................................................82 Evaluating the performance of the administration...................................................................................................................82 Evaluating the performance of Congress .......................................................................................................................................88 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................................................90 Appendix .........................................................................................................................................................................................91 IV. PUBLIC SAFETY, CORRUPTION, AND THE ARMED CONFLICT .............................................................................93 4 LAPOP – AmericasBarometer, Colombia 2011 Public safety...................................................................................................................................................................................93 The problem of safety ..............................................................................................................................................................................93 Perceptions of safety and justice ........................................................................................................................................................97 Crime............................................................................................................................................................................................................103 Corruption ................................................................................................................................................................................... 108 Perceptions of corruption...................................................................................................................................................................109 Attitudes toward corruption .............................................................................................................................................................110 Victimization by corruption ..............................................................................................................................................................113 The armed conflict ..................................................................................................................................................................