The Latin American Left’s Mandate: Free-Market Policies and Issue Voting in New Democracies

Andy Baker and Kenneth F. Greene (2011). "The Latin American Left's Mandate: Free Market Policies and Issue Voting in New Democracies." World Politics 63(1): 43-77.

44 Pages Posted: 13 Aug 2009 Last revised: 17 Jan 2015

See all articles by Andy Baker

Andy Baker

University of Colorado at Boulder

Kenneth F. Greene

University of Texas at Austin

Date Written: 2011

Abstract

The rise of the left across Latin America is one of the most striking electoral events to occur in new democracies during the last decade. Current work argues either that the left's electoral success stems from a thoroughgoing rejection of free-market policies by voters or that electorates have sought to punish poorly performing right-wing incumbents. Whether the new left has a policy or performance mandate has implications for the type of policies it may pursue in power and the voting behavior of Latin American electorates. Using a new measure of voter ideology called vote-revealed leftism (VRL) and a time-series cross-sectional analysis of aggregate public opinion indicators generated from mass surveys of eighteen countries over thirteen years, the authors show that the left has a clear economic policy mandate but that this mandate is much more moderate than many observers might expect. In contrast to the generalized view that new democracies are of low quality, the authors reach the more optimistic conclusion that well-reasoned voting on economic policy issues and electoral mandates are now relevant features of politics in Latin America.

Keywords: Latin America, left, voting behavior, public opinion, economic reform

Suggested Citation

Baker, Andy and Greene, Kenneth F., The Latin American Left’s Mandate: Free-Market Policies and Issue Voting in New Democracies (2011). Andy Baker and Kenneth F. Greene (2011). "The Latin American Left's Mandate: Free Market Policies and Issue Voting in New Democracies." World Politics 63(1): 43-77. , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1449109

Andy Baker

University of Colorado at Boulder ( email )

1070 Edinboro Drive
Boulder, CO CO 80309
United States

HOME PAGE: http://spot.colorado.edu/~bakerab/

Kenneth F. Greene (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Austin ( email )

2317 Speedway
Austin, TX Texas 78712
United States

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