Political instability, polarisation, and popular dissatisfaction: an exploratory analysis of the effect of electoral losses on satisfaction with democracy and conservatism during the period of political instability in Brazil from 2014-2022
Having a population satisfied with the functioning of democracy is important to maintaining the democratic stability of a regime. This is especially important when going through periods of political or economic unrest, straining relations between governments and their populus. In the case of Brazil,...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis de maestría |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Institución: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP) |
| Repositorio: | Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da USP |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:teses.usp.br:tde-04062025-115141 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/101/101131/tde-04062025-115141/ |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Electoral losses Estudos de opinião pública Ideologia Ideology Perdas eleitorais Polarisation Polarização Public opinion studies Satisfação com a democracia (SWD) Satisfaction with democracy (SWD) |
| Sumario: | Having a population satisfied with the functioning of democracy is important to maintaining the democratic stability of a regime. This is especially important when going through periods of political or economic unrest, straining relations between governments and their populus. In the case of Brazil, which underwent a political crisis from 2014 to 2022, the countrys entire view of politics and trust in institutions was completely shaken. Political polarisation in the country grew, and from 2016, both sides of the political spectrum began to doubt the government on an unprecedented scale and many core institutions were called into question, eventually culminating in the anti-democratic attacks on the capital in Brasília on the 8th January 2023. For these reasons, studying possible effects on the level of satisfaction with democracy (SWD) is an especially important topic for this moment in Brazils democratisation process. This paper uses the Brazilian Electoral Survey (BES), part of CSES systems global survey, to explore the relationship between SWD, losing the elections, and conservatism. We find that electoral losers are generally more dissatisfied with democracy following an electoral loss. However, 2018 reflects how both sides were dissatisfied with the functioning of democracy. Concerning conservatism, losing the elections in 2022 is associated with a substantially larger increase in conservatism than in 2014, the previous electoral loss for non-Workers Party (PT) voters. These results support the previous literature on SWD and electoral losses and aim to provide more insight into the role of increasing conservatism in Brazil. |
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