Attitudes, Ideological Associations and the Left–Right Divide in Latin America

Do Latin American citizens share a common conception of the ideological left–right distinction? And if so, is this conception linked to individuals’ ideological self-placement? Selecting questions from the 2006 Latinobarómetro survey based on a core definition of the left–right divide rooted in political theory and philosophy, this paper addresses these questions. We apply joint correspondence analysis to explore whether citizens who relate to the same ideological identification also share similar and coherent convictions and beliefs that reflect the ideological content of the left–right distinction. Our analysis indicates that theoretical conceptions about the roots of, and responsibility for, inequality in society, together with the translation of these beliefs into attitudes regarding the state versus market divide, distinguish those who self-identify with the left and those who selfidentify with the right

Actitudes populistas, preferencias políticas y sistemas de partidos en España, Francia e Italia

European party systems have witnessed the emergence of populist discursive elements among political parties with quite diverse ideological platforms. In this article we analyze the role and correlates of populist political attitudes in Spain, France, and Italy, three countries that present important differences in the nature of the parties articulating populist discourses. In the first place, we conduct factor analyses in order to explore the public opinion map of policy preferences and political attitudes in these three countries. These analyses reveal the presence of a clearly distinguishable dimension of populist attitudes in all these countries. In the second place, we examine the party system articulation of citizen preferences in the bi-dimensional spaces constituted by populist attitudes, left-right economic preferences, and preferences regarding immigration. Our analysis reveals strong associations between populist attitudes and left-right preferences at the party level, and the orthogonal relationship of populist attitudes and immigration preferences. Finally, our analysis of the socio-structural determinants of populist attitudes reveals the positive association of populist attitudes with lower income levels, less qualified occupations, and lower educational levels.Los sistemas de partidos europeos han sido testigos de la articulación de elementos discursivos populistas por partidos con perfiles ideológicos muy diferentes. En este trabajo analizamos el papel y los correlatos de las actitudes populistas en España, Francia e Italia, tres países que presentan importantes diferencias en términos de la naturaleza de los partidos que articulan discursos populistas. En primer lugar, llevamos a cabo análisis factoriales a fin de explorar el mapa de preferencias de políticas y actitudes políticas en estos tres países. Estos análisis revelan la presencia de una dimensión de actitudes populistas claramente distinguible en los tres países. En segundo lugar examinamos la articulación partidista de las preferencias ciudadanas en los espacios bidimensionales constituidos por las actitudes populistas, las preferencias económicas de izquierda-derecha y las preferencias relativas a la inmigración. Nuestro análisis muestra la presencia de una fuerte asociación, al nivel partidista, entre actitudes populistas y preferencias económicas, y el carácter ortogonal de la relación entre actitudes populistas y preferencias relativas a la inmigración. Finalmente, nuestro análisis de los condicionantes socio-estructurales de las actitudes populistas revela que estas actitudes tienden a estar positivamente asociadas con niveles de ingreso inferiores, con ocupaciones menos cualificadas y con niveles educativos más bajos

How presidents answer the call of international capital

How do governments manage expectations from international capital keen on pressuring them into adopting market-oriented economic policies during times of crises? Studying executive communication in 267 annual state-of-the-union speeches in 12 Latin American countries between 1980 and 2014 reveals two broad options for strategic position-taking on economic policies. First, when times are dire, presidents not only talk more about the economy and less about social policy, but they also attempt to repurpose other policies as an investment in development. Second, economic turmoil encourages presidents to signal policies, which are appealing to international capital owners. However, while currency crises exert more enduring pressure, the effects of loan crises are more fleeting. Our results are particularly relevant to all who seek to understand how governments use public statements to address pressures from financial markets

THE MEANING OF LEFT-RIGHT IN LATIN AMERICA: A COMPARATIVE VIEW

During recent years the so-called left turn across the Latin American continent has stimulated research seeking to explain this resurgence, accompanied by a lively debate about distinct variants of the left, broadly conceived as “good ” and “bad, ” social democratic and populist. This paper goes beyond this simplistic distinction: It explores the substantive policy content of left and right in Latin American countries using original expert survey data of policy positions of political parties and presidents in 18 countries and furthermore compares these left-right estimates with results from elite surveys. The examples discussed underscore the need to take policy positions on particular policy dimensions into account and show that caution is recommended in the use of the general left-right axis. RESUMEN En los últimos años, el llamado giro a la izquierda a lo largo del continente latinoamericano estimuló investigaciones que trataron de explicar este resurgimiento, acompañadas de un debate vivaz sobre las distintas variantes de la izquierda, concebidas en general como buena y mala, social demócrata y populista. Este artículo va más allá d