Volume 46, Issue 5 p. 637-659

Democrats with adjectives: Linking direct and indirect measures of democratic support

ANDREAS SCHEDLER,

Corresponding Author

ANDREAS SCHEDLER

Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City, Mexico

Andreas Schedler, CIDE, Department of Political Studies Carretera México-Toluca 3655, Col. Lomas de Santa Fe, CP 01210 Mexico City, Mexico. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author

RODOLFO SARSFIELD,

RODOLFO SARSFIELD

Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City, Mexico

Search for more papers by this author

ANDREAS SCHEDLER,

Corresponding Author

ANDREAS SCHEDLER

Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City, Mexico

RODOLFO SARSFIELD,

RODOLFO SARSFIELD

Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City, Mexico

Search for more papers by this author

First published: 16 June 2007

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2007.00708.x

Citations: 118

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Abstract

Abstract. Major cross-national surveys measure popular support for democracy through direct questions about democracy in the abstract. Since people may entertain competing democratic ideas and ideals, however, the academic community ignores the extent to which standard questions capture citizen support for liberal democracy. To solve the validity problems associated with direct measures of democratic support, this article proposes linking them to more concrete, indirect measures of support for democratic principles and institutions. It employs the statistical technique of cluster analysis to establish this linkage. Cluster analysis permits grouping respondents in a way that is open to complex and inconsistent attitudinal profiles. It permits the identification of ‘democrats with adjectives’ who support democracy in the abstract, while rejecting core principles of liberal democracy. The article demonstrates the fruitfulness of this approach by drawing a map of ‘illiberal democrats’ in Mexico on the basis of the country's 2003 National Survey on Political Culture.

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Volume46, Issue5

August 2007

Pages 637-659

Democrats with adjectives: Linking direct and indirect measures of democratic support

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Democrats with adjectives: Linking direct and indirect measures of democratic support

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