The Party's Over: Citizen Conceptions of Democracy and Political Dissatisfaction in Mexico

A decade after Mexico's watershed 2000 election, Mexicans are disillusioned with democracy and distrustful of politicians, parties, and parliament. Evidence from an original survey, Desencanto Ciudadano en México, indicates that Mexicans' definitions of democracy play an important role in shaping how satisfied they are with it. Those holding a “substantive” definition of democracy emphasizing socioeconomic improvement tied to redistribution are significantly less satisfied with democracy than “liberal” democrats, who stress rights, or “electoral” democrats, who emphasize procedures. Citizen expectations of democracy are an important but missing ingredient in studies of political disillusionment. Dissatisfaction is worrisome because of its impact on political behavior. The disenchanted vote less, are less involved civically, and engage more in legal and illegal protest.