Electoral Reforms, Post-Covid-19, and Public Opinion in Latin America

Abstract

Elections are a necessary condition for the process of democratic representation. Within a multi-level context, they enable citizens to reward and punish policymakers and incumbents, holding them accountable for their previous political behaviour. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, most Latin American countries have seemed to follow the global trend of innovating mechanisms and modes of political participation and representation. Yet, in the region, a considerable part of the electorate is increasingly disaffected and unconfident, implying latent and manifest signs of low levels of public trust and crises of governability. Correspondingly, this panel aims to bring together –most likely– empirical papers based on public opinion national and cross-national surveys and/or aggregate data to test the influence of the recent electoral reforms and respective decision-making to promote political participation on the electorate and party organizations across Latin America. We do not exclude experimental designs and in-depth case studies that dive deeper into the causal mechanisms and patterns between electoral politics, accountability, and public opinion.

Title	Details
Measuring and Understanding Frustration and Resentment in Politics: The case of Chile, 2017-2022	View Paper Details
Partial presidential vetoes and executive-legislative bargaining: Chile, 1990-2018	View Paper Details
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Who represents? Political parties and other types of candidacies for municipal executives in Latin America	View Paper Details