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Decentralization, the Inclusion of Ethnic Citizens, and Support for Democracy in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Karleen Jones West
Karleen Jones West*
Affiliation:
SUNY Geneseo
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Abstract

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Decentralization has been considered a tool of democracy promotion because of its ability to improve citizen participation and increase equity by allocating resources to long-neglected populations. I examine these claims by focusing on decentralization's effects for indigenous and Afro-Latino individuals in fifteen Latin American countries. Using AmericasBarometer survey data provided by the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), I first analyze how the inclusion of ethnic citizens in local government affects attitudes that are considered crucial for democratic consolidation, such as satisfaction with democratic governance. I then assess whether decentralization has increased inclusion by examining how political, fiscal, and administrative decentralization affect ethnic individuals' participation and engagement in local government. The analyses demonstrate the limits of decentralizing reforms for democratization. I find that the inclusion of marginalized citizens is not substantially enhanced by decentralization, which is especially important given the other significant result of this study: that local inclusion increases ethnic individuals' support for democracy. The results suggest that individual reserves of social capital may be most important for enhancing local inclusion, and hence support for democracy.

Resumen

Resumen

La descentralización se ha considerado como una herramienta para promover la democracia, debido a su capacidad para mejorar la participación de los ciudadanos y aumentar la equidad mediante la asignación de recursos a las poblaciones olvidadas desde hace mucho tiempo. Examino estas afirmaciones, centrándome en los efectos de la descentralización para las personas indígenas y afro-latinas en quince países de América Latina. Utilizando datos de la encuesta AmericasBarometer, primero analizo cómo la inclusión de los ciudadanos étnicos en el gobierno local afecta las actitudes que se consideran cruciales para la consolidación democrática, como el nivel de satisfacción con la gobernabilidad democrática. Luego evalúo si, a causa de la descentralización, ha aumentado la inclusión con una investigación de cómo la descentralización política, fiscal y administrativa afecta la participación de las personas étnicas en el gobierno local. Los análisis demuestran los límites de las reformas descentralizadas para la democratización. Concluyo que la descentralización no ha mejorado la inclusión de los ciudadanos marginados sustancialmente, lo que es especialmente importante dado el otro resultado significativo del estudio: que la inclusión local aumenta el apoyo de los individuos étnicos para la democracia. Los resultados sugieren que las reservas individuales de capital social puedan ser más importantes para aumentar la integración local y, por tanto, el apoyo para la democracia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , 2015 , pp. 46 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

I would like to thank Ryan Carlin, Erin Cassese, Gregory Love, Jana Morgan, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments revising this article. Any remaining errors are my responsibility. This project was supported by a Small Grant for Research on Marginalization and Democracy from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University and USAID.

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