Conventional wisdom holds that high levels of system support serve as an attitudinal barrier to democratic breakdown. In unconsolidated democracies, however, where democratic norms are regularly violated, the authors hypothesize that a healthy dose of political skepticism toward the political system, neither extreme rejection nor uncritical support of the system, would be associated with greater attitudinal resistance to breakdown in the form of a military coup. Using survey data from Peru, the authors confirm this expectation, showing that the relationship between system support and approval of military coups follows a V-curve pattern. This research fails to find support for the contention that a greater involvement in associational life or a greater degree of interpersonal trust predispose people to reject coups. The authors found other factors, such as rejection of the use of direct tactics for political purposes, support for the incumbent, and age, that are better predictors of coup support and rejection.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Armony, A. (1998). Democracy and the double-edged sword of civil society: Argentina in comparative perspective. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, PA.
2.
Baloyra, E. (1988). Public opinion about military coups and democratic consolidation in Venezuela. In D. Herman (Ed.), Democracy in Latin America: Colombia and Venezuela (pp. 125-218). New York: Praeger.
3.
Brehm, J. , & Rahn, W. (1997). Individual-level evidence for the causes and consequences of social capital. American Journal of Political Science, 41(2), 999-1023.
4.
Carrión, J. F. (1991). La juventud popular en el Perú [Working-class youth in Peru]. Lima, Peru: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
5.
Casper, G. (1995). Fragile democracies: The legacies of authoritarian rule. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
6.
Citrin, J. (1974). Comment: The political relevance of trust in government. American Political Science Review, 68(3), 973-988.
7.
Conaghan, C. M. (1995). Polls, political discourse, and the public sphere: The spin on Peru’s Fuji-golpe. In P. Smith (Ed.), Latin America in comparative perspective (pp. 227-255). Boulder, CO: Westview.
8.
Dalton, R. J. (1996). Citizen politics (2nd ed.). Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.
9.
Diamond, L. , Linz, J., & Lipset, S. M. (1995). Introduction: What makes for democracy. In L. Diamond, J. Linz, & S. M. Lipset, (Eds.), Politics in developing countries: Comparing experiences with democracy (2nd ed., pp. 1-66). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
10.
Dionne, E. J., Jr. (1991). Why Americans hate politics. New York: Simon & Schuster.
11.
Easton, D. (1965). A systems analysis of political life. New York: John Wiley.
12.
Easton, D. (1975). A re-assessment of the concept of political support. British Journal of Political Science, 5(4), 435-457.
13.
Finer, S. (1988). The man on horseback: The role of the military in politics (2nd enlarged ed., rev.). Boulder, CO: Westview.
14.
Finkel, S. , Muller, E., & Seligson, M. A. (1989). Economic crisis, incumbent performance and regime support: A comparison of longitudinal data From West Germany and Costa Rica. British Journal of Political Science, 19(3), 329-351.
15.
Fitch, J. S. (1977). The military coup d’etat as a political process: Ecuador, 1948-1966. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
16.
Foley, M., & Edwards, B. (Eds.). (1998). Beyond Tocqueville: civil society and social capital in comparative perspective—editor’s introduction. American Behavioral Scientist, 42(1), 5-20.
17.
Hetherington, M. J. (1998). The political relevance of political trust. American Political Science Review, 92(4), 791-808.
18.
Hetherington, M. J. (1999). The effect of political trust on the presidential vote. American Political Science Review, 93(2), 311-326.
19.
Hibbing, J. R. , & Theiss-Morse, E. (1995). Congress as public enemy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
20.
Huntington, S. (1968). Political order in changing societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
21.
Inglehart, R. (1977). The silent revolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
22.
Inglehart, R. (1988). The renaissance of political culture. American Political Science Review, 82(4), 1203-1230.
23.
Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
24.
Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: Cultural, economic and political change in 43 nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
25.
Klingemann, H. -D. , & Fuchs, D. (Eds.). (1995). Citizens and the state. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
26.
Linz, J. , & Stepan, A. (1996). Problems of democratic transition and consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and post-Communist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
27.
Lipset, S. M. (1959). Some social requisites of democracy: economic development and political legitimacy. American Political Science Review, 53(1), 69-105.
28.
Lipset, S. M. , & Schneider, W. (1987). The confidence gap: Business, labor, and government in the public mind. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
29.
Mishler, W. , & Rose, R. (1997). Trust, distrust and skepticism: popular evaluations of civil and political institutions in post-Communist societies. Journal of Politics, 59(2), 418-451.
30.
Mishler, W. , Rose, R., & Haerpfer, C. (1998). Democracy and its alternatives: Understanding post-Communist societies. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
31.
Mondak, J., (Ed.). (1998). Psychological approaches to social capital, special issue. Political Psychology, 19(3), 433-439.
32.
Muller, E. N. , Jukan, T. O., & Seligson, M. A. (1982). Diffuse support and antisystem political behavior: A comparative analysis. American Journal of Political Science, 26(2), 240-264.
33.
Myers, D. J. , & O’Connor, R. E. (1998). Support for coups in democratic political culture: A Venezuelan exploration. Comparative Politics, 30(2), 193-211.
34.
Nordlinger, E. (1977). Soldiers in politics: Military coups and governments. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
35.
Norris, P. (1999). Introduction: The growth of critical citizens. In P. Norris (Ed.), Critical citizens: Global support for democratic governance (pp. 1-27). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
36.
Pateman, C. (1970). Participation and democratic theory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
37.
Putnam, R. (1967). Toward explaining military intervention in Latin American politics. World Politics, 20(1), 83-110.
38.
Putnam, R. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39.
Seligson, A. L. (1999). Civic association and democratic participation in Central America: A cross national test of the Putnam thesis. Comparative Political Studies, 31(3), 342-362.
40.
Seligson, M. A. (1983). On the measurement of diffuse support: Some evidence from Mexico. Social Indicators Research, 12(1), 1-24.
41.
Seligson, M. A. , & Muller, E. N. (1987). Democratic stability and economic crisis: Costa Rica 1978-1983. International Studies Quarterly, 31(3), 301-326.
42.
Tarrow, S. (1996). Making social science work across space and time: A critical reflection on Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work. American Political Science Review, 90(2), 389-397.
43.
Weatherford, S. M. (1992). Measuring political legitimacy. American Political Science Review, 86(1), 149-166.
