Delegative Democratic Attitudes and Institutional Support in Central America

Abstract

also consist of at least two types of attitudes toward regimes: liberal and delegative dem ocratic. These divergent democratic attitudes have major implications for the develop ment of institutional legitimacy in new democracies. Persons with delegative democratic attitudes are more likely to express support for democratic institutions as support for the democratic regime than persons with other attitudes toward regimes. While delegative democratic support may contribute to the stability of the democratic regime, it is less beneficial to the development of institutional loyalty. As Guillermo O'Donnell argues in his treatise on delegative democracy, only democratic governments with vertical and horizontal institutional accountability are likely to become consolidated democracies.1 Consequently, a high level of support for unrestrained presidentialism is unlikely to contribute to the horizontal institutional accountability necessary to consolidate demo cratic governance. Many studies examine the effects of delegative democracy on institutional perfor mance in new democracies, often focusing on the lack of horizontal and vertical ac countability of the president.2 Few studies rigorously examine the relationship between delegative democracy, public attitudes, and institutional support in cross national comparative research or the vertical accountability of the legislature and judi ciary in the delegative democracy framework. This article fills the void by testing the notion that the delegative democratic attitude, which favors unrestrained presidential power, is distinguishable from both liberal democratic and authoritarian attitudes. Persons with delegative democratic attitudes evaluate judicial and legislative insti tutions differently than persons with liberal democratic and authoritarian attitudes. They give greater support to the democratic regime as a whole, but not specifically to the judiciary and legislature. Scholars who attempt to measure institutional legitimacy in new democracies must take account of the different types of institutional support of citizens with delegative and liberal democratic attitudes. The cases of Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua provide variation in democratic development and individual level support for institutions and illustrate that delegative attitudes are distinct attitudes.