WHAT DEMOCRACY MEANS TO BRAZILIANS

JOS LVARO MOISS1

Jos lvaro Moiss is Professor of the Department of Political Science and Director of the Center for
Public Policy Research NUPPs, University of So Paulo.

Abstract:
Nearly a quarter of century after the reintroduction of democracy in Brazil, the majority of
Brazilians supports the regime, but is strongly mistrustful of democratic institutions. This paper
examines then what democracy means to ordinary individuals based on analysis of answers to
the open question What is democracy?. The study is based on bivariate and multivariate
analyses of data in research carried out by the author in 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2006. The aim
of the surveys was to establish which aspects of the concept were most important, and their
determining factors, in order to obtain a broader understanding of the growing normative
adherence of Brazilians to democracy. Data has shown that they define democracy in terms of
liberties, freedom and institutional procedures; surprisingly the dimension relative to social
benefits has no important impact on the results. Both definitions, related to normative and
pragmatic perspectives, are integral components of the democratic process and are relevant
for the quality of democracy.
INTRODUCTION
Almost a quarter of a century after being re-established in Brazil, democracy is the most
popular political regime for more than 2/3 of Brazilian citizens (see Table 2 page 14)2.
However, the significance of this fact for the contemporary political history of the country
cannot be properly understood without considering that in more than a century of republican
government, Brazilians have experimented the virtues of democratic rule during only two
periods of nearly two decades each, from 1946 to 1964 and from 1988 up to the present day.
During the rest of the republican period, which takes up the greater part of the twentieth
century, oligarchic, authoritarian or semi-liberal systems have predominated, which, by
definition, did not guarantee fundamental liberties, free elections, popular participation or
rights of citizenship. Then viewed in a long term perspective, democracy has been a relatively
new political phenomenon in Brazil, both fragile and discontinuous. This reason alone justifies
the interest for understanding better what democracy means for Brazilians.
Now a days, unlike other periods of its history, the majority of Brazilians has expressed its
adherence to democracy, and more importantly still, this support for democracy is backed by
the fact that more than 2/3 of Brazilians are opposed to undemocratic alternatives, such as a
return to military rule or the establishment of a one-party system (See Graph 1 page 15). The
relevance of stable support for democratic rule has been emphasized by various students of
the democratization process, especially Booth and Seligson (2009), Shin (2005) and Linz and
Stepan (1996) who, while referring to different aspects of the processes of democratic
consolidation, considered attitudinal factors to be one of the most important, since
democratic government can only become established when a large majority of public opinion
believes that democratic institutions and their processes offer the best form of governing the
collective life of their society and when support for opposition to that form is small or isolated
compared to that which favors pro-democracy movements (Linz e Stepan, 1996, p. 6). Great
part of the literature dealing with the subject has followed Max Webers formulations
according to which the legitimacy of institutions is a key element of the functioning of any
political regime, most particularly in the case of democracies because acquiescence of citizens
in the decisions which affect their lives does not depend on political coercion, but is voluntary
(Weber, 1974).
2

According to the World Values Survey, which at present covers more than 80% of the world population,
today democracy is the form of government preferred by the majority of those interviewed (Inglehart,
2003). The Latinobarometro in turn confirms the results for Latin America: as far as the specific cases of
some countries are concerned, preference for democracy exceeded 50% in the continent for more than ten
years (See Latinobarometro 2007, www.latinobarometro.org). However, for reasons explained bellow
there is a discrepancy among the results of the authors researches and the ones of Latinobarometro for
Brazil.

In spite of this, recent research has shown that, although overall popular support for
democracy in Brazil has grown, paradoxically, so has also mistrust of democratic institutions
(Moiss, 1993, 1995; 2008a; 2008b), and that this is also a feature in the majority of other
Latin-American countries [as shown by data from Latinobarometro and the WVS; also Booth
and Seligson (2009); table 1, page 5, shows data for Brazil). It is as if ordinary people were
saying in opinion polls, that although, on the one hand, they love democracy, on the other, if
not hating it, they at least had contradictory or ambiguous feelings towards the norms,
procedures and rules which characterize the democratic institutions, whose function it is to
ensure their participation both in elections and in the ways public decisions are taken and
evaluated. Usually citizens do not feel motivated to appeal to institutions as means to realize
the promises of democracy political freedom, the equality of citizens before the law,
individual and collective rights and the obligation of government to be accountable to society
for its actions unless they are meaningfull and not just formal. As they were created to
ensure power distribution in society and enable citizens to evaluate and judge the
performance of those who govern in their name, the lack of trust in public institutions could
rob them of significance and meaning (Moiss, 2007).
Table 1: INTERPERSONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL TRUST IN BRAZIL 2006 - %
INTERPERSONAL TRUST
None (0) Little (1)
Some (2)
Family
1.5
9.9
16.0
People from the same church
11.3
32.6
37.7
Friends
12.3
39.1
34.6
Neighbours
21.3
42.1
29.3
Work colleagues
22.3
42.3
27.8
People in general
22.3
54.5
21.2
TRUST IN INSTITUTIONS
None (0) Little (1)
Some (2)
Firemen
2.8
11.1
32.4
Church
6.0
18.7
34.3
Army
9.8
28.9
40.1
Television
8.0
34.1
46.0
Judiciary power
13.7
42.0
33.4
President
23.0
33.8
31.2
Police
18.8
43.2
29.4
Laws
20.8
41.3
30.6
Unions
19.4
44.3
30.6
Government
24.9
40.8
28.5
National Congress
26.7
45.9
22.6
Entrepreneurs
26.9
44.3
25.7
Political parties
36.8
44.2
16.9
Source: "Citizens Distrust in Democratic Institutions in Brazil" (2006).
Note: DK, DA and missing cases excluded.

A lot (3)
72.5
18.4
14.0
7.2
7.5
2.1
A lot (3)
53.7
40.9
21.3
11.9
11.0
12.0
8.7
7.3
5.7
5.9
4.7
3.0
2.1

Mean
2.59
1.63
1.50
1.22
1.21
1.03
Mean
2.37
2.10
1.73
1.62
1.42
1.32
1.28
1.24
1.23
1.15
1.05
1.05
0.84

As the data in Table 1 show3, although the majority in Brazil supports democracy, their
mistrust of democratic institutions is very high, particularly those of the political parties, the
National Congress and the judicial system. Public and private institutions which enjoy the
3

The table shows simple frequencies and reliability varies between 0 and 3. The average has been
calculated based on this range. There are higher averages for confidence in the family, the fire service and
the church and lower for political parties, the majority of people, businesspeople and the National
Congress.

highest trust are those which are based on hierarchical structures, such as the Church and the
Armed Forces. As concerning interpersonal trust, Brazilians are very much cautious of others,
especially those to whom they have no personal attachment or who are not related to them by
ties of blood such as work colleagues and strangers in general. These low levels of
interpersonal trust between Brazilians may also explain the low levels of political participation
in the country; tests of statistic association (not shown here) confirm this hypothesis. In other
words, as they lack confidence in each other, Brazilians seem to fail in developing an important
stimulus when it comes to facing dilemmas of collective action.
The aparent contradiction implied by attitudes of adherence to democracy and lack of
confidence in institutions has led some writers to see this as a one-dimensional phenomenon
of political support; the more skeptical among them have tended to question to what extent
popular support for the new democracies is really genuine. They argue that in spite of showing
their support for the new democratic forms of government by participating in general
elections, the population of poorer or developing nations is more concerned about their social
and economic needs than the virtues or values of the democratic regime. In addition, those
who hold such positions maintain that the citizens of such countries who in many cases have
low levels of education and income and consequently might have insufficient political
awareness to understand the complexity of the democratic process in expressing support for
democracy are merely showing vague sympathy for a concept that is surrounded by a good
aura - especially after its worldwide alternatives have collapsed and that in practice the
concept has little meaning. These analysts also suggest, that, as a result of the good image
democratic systems have acquired after the Fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of the 80s, and
the growing influence of mass means of communication, the present mass support for
democracy arises more out of the desire of ordinary people to achieve levels of income and
consumption usually associated with life in the Western democracies rather than any deep
belief in its political values. In other words, rather than being an expression of choosing the
principles of one specific form of government, the majority preference for democracy in fact
arises from choices of a different nature (Schaffer, 1998; Baviskar and Malone, 2004; Schedler
and Sarsfield, 2004; Dalton, Shin and Jou, 2007).
The implications of such a scenario, if empirically demonstrated, could lead to the formation of
a democracy without democrats, as was the case of the Weimar Republic in Germany in the
early decades of the 20th century. This would place these new governments in jeopardy, should
they ever have to confront economic or social crises (financial deficit, drop in investment, high
inflation, unemployment, mass migrations etc) which governments and political leaderships
could not respond to with the necessary efficiency or agility. Although the experiences of the
last thirty years of political change in countries like Argentina, Brazil and Spain have advanced
the process of democratization in spite of the social and economic crises that occurred during
the final phase of transition, the aforementioned hypothesis demonstrates that there exists a
political dilemma which demands more analytical treatment. Without dismissing what we
already know in this regard, we need to learn more about what the average citizen
understands by the word democracy in the light of the recent waves of world democratization.
How do they define the concept of democracy? Would this definition allow it to be
distinguished from other forms of governance? And particularly in the case of Brazil, where
economic and social structures which exhibit profound inequalities, would individuals show a
preference for matters relating to their own material needs, as opposed to concern for the
values and processes typical of democracy?

This study attempts to answer some of these questions based on analysis of data from four
national surveys of opinion and attitudes carried out by the author between 1989 and 20064.
Its analysis is exploratory and the study examines peoples concept of democracy based on
answers to the open question, What does democracy mean to you? which was included in
four surveys carried out over a period of 17 years. Replies were categorized with the aim of
clarifying which elements in the concept were most important - in particular if they relate to
processes, principles or freedoms, or were related to more instrumental issues -, in such a way
as to advance our understanding of Brazilians growing support for democratic forms of
government. The most extensive empirical analysis was carried out on data from the 2006
survey, beginning with a description of frequencies, and later by factor analysis of variables,
which were in general linked to replies to the above-mentioned open question. Finally results
are presented of an analysis of logistic regression with a variable built in on the basis of replies
from those interviewed who did offer a definition of what they understood by democracy. The
aim in this case was to discover what determined these replies.
The results show that the majority of Brazilians associate democracy with a fundamental
normative concept, related to freedom and liberties, but also to institutional processes
associated with this type of government. Although also mentioned in interviews, answers that
referred to the social dimension or material benefits of democracy carried surprisingly little
weight in the samples. In other words, inasmuch as democracy has been the standard form of
government since 1988, Brazilians describe their support for democracy in terms of the
freedoms it brings and the institutions with which it is associated. They seem to combine a
normative idea linked to democratic principles with another of a more practical nature, related
to the performance of institutions. These important twin aspects are related to the quality of
democracy, which depends on the integration of these two factors (Diamond and Morlino,
2005).
DEFINITIONS OF DEMOCRACY
Different researches have shown that ordinary people tend to show hesitancy and confusion
when interviewed about what they think of the concept of democracy. It is not unusual for
interviewers to be confronted with answers such as Well, I dont really know, Ill have to think
about that, which finally crystallizes into something like, I think its something important
or Its something we need, I think or similar incomplete responses. Dalton, Shin and Jou
(2007) recall that in a similar situation recently, in a text about how democracy is viewed in
some unlikely places, a Chinese student taking part in the anti-government demonstrations in
Tiananmen Square in 1989 carried a placard with the message, I dont know what democracy
means, but I know we need more of it.
What is the point about this? In the first instance, it shows how difficult it can be for an
ordinary person when asked to define a complex idea like democracy. Apart from those who
can deal with such question more easily due to their level of education or personal experience,
4

Surveys carried out in 1989 (September and December), 1990 (March) and 1993 (March) were part of
the research Democratizaion and Political Culture, which was designed and directed by Jos lvaro
Moiss, and done with the support of Fundao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paulo
FAPESP, Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Tecnolgico CNPq and the Ford
Foundation. The corresponding databank may be accessed on request to the author at the Center for
Public Policy Research, of the University of so Paulo. The survey carried out in 2006 (June) was part of
the research Citizens Distrust of Democratic Institutions which was directed by Jos lvaro Moiss
and Rachel Meneguello (UNICAMP), with the support of FAPESP and CNPq. Data from the research
Political Culture and the Citizenship, of the Fundao Perseu Abramo, done in 1997, is also used in this
study as are the ESEB surveys of 2002 and 2006, both co-coordinated by Rachel Meneguello of the
University of Campinas.

many hesitate, mention some partial aspects, equivocate or simply do not answer. Neither is
this just a problem in dealing with citizens from poorer nations or developing countries where
a democratic government has been installed more recently; it also occurs with the inhabitants
of developed countries with a much longer experience of democracy, going back over decades
or even centuries. The literature on political sophistication or political awareness of the mass
public has shown for some time that ordinary people may be limited in their understanding of
the world of politics by factors such as insufficient interest, the lack of perceived relevance of
political systems and most of all insufficient levels of schooling or formal education (Neuman,
1986; also Converse, 1964). Even in countries like the United States, Britain or Germany there
were significant sections of the population, who in spite of being pro-democracy and having
ideas about it, were unable to define it in precise terms. This of course does not invalidate the
beliefs and perceptions of those interviewed, whatever they might be; but might it not suggest
that it would be better to wait until Latin-American countries, and eventually Russia, Ukraine,
Afghanistan or South Africa, where social and economic inequality affect the level of education
of a significant number of people and consequently their political awareness, reach higher
levels of articulacy, sufficient to deal with a question as complex as What is democracy?.
Should we wait until at least a minority reach high enough levels of education to be able to
respond, if not necessarily the majority of those interviewed? This alternative would mean
taking no account of either the negative effects of societies having experienced authoritarian
rule in changing peoples convictions, or of the cultural changes caused by processes of
economic and social modernization (Soares, 1973; Moiss, 1995; Inglehart and Wezel, 2005).
Then one of the questions relevant to research consists in knowing how to respond to
different sections of the public who have undergone these experiences, how much replies
should be allowed to vary and what is their relation to the functioning of government. That is,
apart from contingent factors such as the international spread of democracy or its
association with the economic success of the government of the day other variables with
more lasting effect need to be taken into account when analyzing this topic.
Democracy has different meanings expressed in different ways by different sectors of the mass
public (Schedler and Sarsfield, 2007; Thomassen, 1989). In itself the concept of democracy has
evolved different content, formulations and articulations over its long history, which has
resulted in the variety of meanings it has today. It is clear, however, that these are not in
opposition and do not nullify each other. It is no simple matter therefore, even for welleducated people, to offer a ready definition that can gather together the various meanings it
has acquired during centuries while the democratic tradition has been developing. Although
previous studies have sometimes suggested that there is a common general understanding of
the term by the public, recent studies of countries which have only become democratic in
recent decades have shown that understanding of the concept of democracy varies
considerably between nations and their citizens, without there being a single, fully-defined
standard (Bratton, Mattes and Gyimah-Boadi, 2004; Camp, 2001).This does not mean that
these replies are without value, but does mean that it would be more realistic to expect,
instead of a common unity of responses among those interviewed, which would draw together
different aspects of the concepts, a wide range of descriptions with different significations,
reflecting the distinct views of different publics of what they see as democratic government.
Aside from which, whatever the percentage of those interviewed who are capable of
describing their view, the second question relevant to the study is to understand which factors
influence these replies and which aspects of a governments performance they strengthen or
weaken.
In the academic literature, democracy is usually defined with reference to the processes and
competitive mechanisms used to select governments at elections, but there are other
perspectives, which broaden the understanding of the concept, including those aspects which

refer to democratic content, as well as practical results which are expected in the field of the
economy and society. Following the minimalist approach of Schumpeter (1950) and Dahl
(1971), a number of authors have defined democracy in terms of competition, participation
and a peaceful contest for power. So, for a democratic system of government to be in place
there would have to be certain minimum conditions, such as: 1. The right of citizens to choose
governments by means of elections involving the participation of all adult members of the
body politic. 2. Regular, free, competitive, open and meaningful elections. 3. Guaranteed rights
of expression, association, and organization, in particular of political parties ready to compete
for power. 4. Access to independent sources of information concerning the actions of
government and politics in general. This definition makes clear that whatever political system
which is not based on competitive processes of selection of public authorities, which makes
them dependent on a mass vote of citizens, that is, principally through a mechanism of vertical
accountability, cannot be called democratic.
However the minimalist approach is vulnerable to what others have termed the electoral
fallacy or the tendency to overvalue elections in relation to other aspects of the democratic
process (Karl, 2000). In fact, by defining democracy essentially as a method of choosing
governments from among elites who are competing for the position, this way of looking at
things tends to overlook the fact that even countries which operate an electoral system may
be undervalueting what happens with other democratic institutions. Even though a regime
may appear democratic, institutions such as parliament, political parties, the judiciary or the
police may be operating unsatisfactorily or in way that is incompatible with the doctrine of
separation of powers. Recent examples can be seen from Russia, Pakistan, Peru under
Fujimori, and Venezuela under Chavez.
Dahl (1971) extended and completed the definition of democracy by referring to polyarchies,
demonstrating that for the principle of free elections to be assured it is essential that specific
conditions be in place to guarantee the participation of all citizens in the choice of
government, including them also having a chance to be elected. He also wished governments
and political leaders to be capable of being called to account for their running of elections.
These conditions would offer relative guarantees of the right to organize and represent civil
society, especially the right of political parties to represent the wide range of interests present
in society. But they also imply a degree of constitutionality, that is, the notion that institutions
are based on their own internal principles such as having systems of checks and balances
before society accepts as legitimate the political order; in other words, it should have a
judicial/legal basis which reflects the values shared by the majority of society. This refers to the
concrete aspects of the political process under the democratic regime, which need specific
democratic institutions to be functioning satisfactorily for them also to work.
A concurrent (and complementary) perspective of the above defines democracy in terms of its
quality, focusing specifically on the concrete aspects of democratic government. Using a
market analogy, the concept is compared to the quality of a product or service, as defined by
specific procedures, content and results. Quality involves processes controlled by precise
methods and timing, which are capable of attributing specific characteristics to the product or
service, in order to meet the expectations of potential consumers. In the case of democracy,
the hope is that a government will be able to satisfy the expectations of its citizens in relation
to the task they have imposed upon it (the quality of results). They and their associations will
also wish to be sure that they enjoy sufficient political freedom and equality for them to
achieve their aspirations or pursue their interests (content quality). Thirdly, it is expected that
institutions will allow citizens to evaluate and judge the performance of governments and its
representatives both at elections and by a system of checks and balances (the quality of
processes). Institutions and procedures are seen in this case as the means of putting into

practice the principles, content and results expected by society of a political process that
involves democratic governance.
Based on the aforementioned considerations, Diamond and Morlino (2004) identified eight
dimensions which might vary according to the quality of democracy. The first five relate to
procedural rules, although they are also connected to content: the rule of law, participation in
political contests, the different modalities of accountability (vertical, social and horizontal); the
two following are basically substantive: on the one hand, respect for civil liberties and political
rights and, on the other, as a consequence of the first, progressive implementation of political
equality and its correlates, such as social and economic equality, and finally a feature which
combines both procedures and content, namely the openness of government and its
representatives to evaluation, by means of which citizens can review and judge public policies,
as well as the practical functioning of government (laws, institutions, procedures and the
structure of public spending) so that these correspond with their interests and preferences.
Although this way of looking at it defines democracy fundamentally in terms of its most
important principles and content, it is clear that it also combines institutional processes and
content, always bearing in mind the practical results of governments, always presupposing
that social and economic equality can be achieved if and when political equality becomes
effective.
In addition to definitions which focus on the procedures, principles and content of
democracies, a third approach concentrates principally on the social aspects of democratic
governments emphasizing the opposition between substance and form, according to the
arguments of authors who have analyzed the process of democratization in poorer and
developing countries. In fact, in addition to ideas which relate to civil and political rights,
definitions inspired by European social-democratic, socialist and communist traditions tend to
include social rights such as a health service, education, housing etc in with the concept. Based
on Marxs critic of the class structure of capitalist society, this point of view suggests that,
unless members of the body politic can provide conditions which are adequate to meet basic
survival needs and the need for self-expression, principles of freedom, equality and political
participation may not mean very much (Huber, Rueschemeyer and Stephens, 1997). We have
to assume therefore that positive responses in respect of democracy presuppose that, when a
democratic regime comes to power, high levels of income and consumption will follow. In such
a case, far from considerations of institutional procedures or the fundamental principles of a
democratic system, the public perception of democracy may be more centered on the tangible
or instrumental benefits it can bring.
It is well known that when responding to researchers, the general public may give varying
answers to questions about democracy, but the above-mentioned perspectives, apart from
forming part of the traditional political debate, refer to substantive choices which appear in
the results of different international surveys on this subject. In this sense, the three
approaches above mentioned offer a useful framework for examining levels of popular support
for democratic government, even if the correspondence between the approach and nature of
the answers provided does not follow a mechanical pattern. In fact each alternative does have
different implications for how we interpret the support of public opinion for types of
government which have resulted from processes of democratization in the last four decades,
and that is why in this study it is considered that they offer a useful basis for analyzing the
empirical data.
OPINIONS AND ATTITUDES ABOUT DEMOCRACY
Previous studies of political culture in Brazil have traditionally measured opinions and attitudes
about democratic government using direct nominal stimuli, that is, by closed or structured

questions explicitly mentioning the word democracy. The most commonly used alternative is
the one also used in Europe and other Latin American countries which takes into account the
publics memory of both authoritarian and democratic regimes, asking those interviewed to
choose or express their opinion about the alternatives related to different historical
experiences and politico-cultural legacies (Moiss, 1995; Meneguello, 2007). It is at the same
time a test of political involvement and preferences between politically opposing alternatives.
The question is the following:
Which of these three statements do you most agree with?
- Democracy is always better than any other form of government;
- In some circumstances a dictatorship would be better than a democracy;
- It doesnt matter whether the government is a democracy or a dictatorship.
Table 2 bellow shows that two very important features stand out from the research results.
First, it should be noted that, in the period of more than 20 years during which democracy has
been the standard form of government in the country, apart from a few variations, public
support for it has gone up about 28%, and is now at the level of two-thirds of the population,
even if we consider that one of the 2006b surveys was probably influenced by the political
mobilization of the presidential elections. In fact, looking at the results of the June 2006a
survey, when the election campaign had not yet begun to mobilize public opinion, the
movement towards support for democracy is in the order of 21% compared to 1989, or twothirds of those interviewed. In December the difference rose to 30%.
However, the second aspect to consider is even more relevant. Growth in preference for the
democratic alternative has, over time, been at the expense of those who had no preference in
terms of government type. The number of Dont Knows and No answers has diminished. In
the first case, the choice of It doesnt matter whether the government is a democracy or a
dictatorship fell by more than two-thirds. While in the second case, Dont Know or No
answer, it fell by half. In other words, while the percentage of those who preferred
authoritarian rule remained constant at about 15% over the period, in reply to the nominal
direct stimulus an absolute majority of Brazilians chose democracy. Confirming theories of
political culture (Almond e Verba, 1965), it is reasonable to say that the values and beliefs of
the majority of the Brazilian society, over the period considered, have shown themselves to be
congruent with the new democratic structures. Previous surveys done by the author have
shown, however, that Brazilian political culture was beginning to change even before the
change in form of government, under the influence of factors such as the modernization of
society and the economic growth of the 1960s and early 70s, the political experience of State
terror and the contradictory maintanence of a semi-competitive political system during the
period of the military rule (Moiss, 1995).
Table 2 Preference for Political Regime in Brazil 1989 2006 (%)
2006b
1989[1] 1990[2] 1993[3] 1997[4] 2006a [5] [6]
Democracy
43,6
54,7
57,9
56,1
64,8
71,4
Dictatorship
19,4
16,7
13,7
12,3
13,5
14,2
No preference
21,3
17,1
13,7
16,9
16,9
6,9
Dont know/ No
11,5
14,7
14,7
4,8
7,6
response
15,7
Source: 1, 2 and 3: Democratization and Political Culture project; 4: Political
Culture and Citizenship (Fund. Perseu Abramo); 5: Citizens Distrust of Democratic
Institutions project; 6: Brazilian Electoral Studies ESEB.

Inglehart and Wezel (2005), although sustaining that political culture is a long lasting
phenomenon, also argued that it does change under the impact of effects of the
modernization and transformation of the policial processes. For them, the determining factor
in the change of political convictions is associated with the emergence of post-materialistic
values. However, the process of democratization in Brazil and other Latin-American countries,
as also in Africa, points to a different direction. Even nations who have undergone incomplete
processes of modernization have passed through changes in the political values of their
citizens before and/or during the process of political consolidation and transition. The
mobilization and politicization of civil society was a crucial factor in this respect, and did help
the process of values change to advance. In other words, the transformation of the previous
political culture was an important factor, even when it has not implyed a general emergence of
post-materialistic values, indicating that it changes gradually under the effect of economic,
political and social transformations and specific political mobilization.
Some other authors have argued, nevertheless, that research carried out using direct
questions about democracy may not reveal the true opinions and attitudes of those
interviewed in view of the growing worldwide spread of democratic values following the fall of
the Berlin Wall, which, under the mass media influence, would have lead people to respond
more positively to questions about their preferences for types of government regimes5.
Because of its methodological implications, the surveys mentioned used questions in an order
of presentation which was designed to avoid the influence of one issue on another, and
specific stimuli related to antidemocratic attitudes did not mention the term democracy
directly, allowing different opinions to be expressed to those nominally formulated. The results
of those questions are compared in Graph 1 below along with indices of nominal support for
democracy. All the indicators went up over time, but rejection of a return to military rule and
of support for a one party system are significant. In spite of this there was a slight reversal of
this trend in 1993, immediately after the serious political crisis which resulted in the
impeachment of ex-president Collor de Mello, the first Brazilian president directly elected after
nearly 30 years. This might have indicated some reservations about the strength of support for
democracy or perhaps some wavering of the memory in relation to the period of authoritarian
rule but, this notwithstanding, preference for democratic rule continued to grow slightly in
that year, indicating that, even in the face of a serious critical situation for the new political
regime, Brazilians still confirmed their choice of democracy made before the crisis.

Likewise Porto, in a an article of 2000, argued that using the above mentioned question would produce
spurious results as people would have to choose between two extremes, democracy or dictatorship and
that preference for the first would only be expressing support for the right side. He did not take into
account, however, that there was a third alternative on offer, It doesnt matter if the government is a
democracy or a dictatorship, apart from those interviewed being able to respond either Dont know or
decline to give an answer. In this respect, see also (Schedler and Sarsfield, 2007).

10

To test more consistently the popular support for democracy, other questions included in the
survey asked the interviewees about specific actions that the State might take to face acute
social and political conflicts. The questions dealt with actions usually taken by military or nonmilitary governments which broke the democratic rule of law. The idea was to present an
antithetical stimulus that would challenge the consistency of beliefs revealed in responses to
the direct nominal questions and allow this to be evaluated. Data in Table 3 below reveal that
of the five alternatives offered - which did not mention the word democracy - the majority of
those interviewed rejected the anti-democratic actions.
In the case of conflict between workers and management, however, support for prohibiting
the right to strike rose from 32% to 50% over the 17 years. In the other cases, only a quarter or
less of those interviewed agreed that the government should be able to interfere with trade
unions, prohibit a political party, censor the media or close the National Congress, confirming
the predominance of democratic orientations over authoritarian ones. Although levels were
slightly higher to indices of direct indications of preference for authoritarian government, the
general trend followed that expected. Concerning the right to strike, it is probable that support
by democrats for government action to limit it, rather than a rejection of that right itself, has
arisen as a result of seeing the effects of the increasing number of semi-legal strikes which
have affected important public services over recent decades. In fact, although the right to
strike is guaranteed by the 1988 Constitution, the way it operated was not regulated by the
National Congress, leaving open the possibility of public servants in the health, education, law
enforcement and social security sectors, not to mention bank employees and other public
services, withdrawing their labor at any time, even acting contrary to labor law, which caused
much inconvenience to the population. In these circumstances, support for the government
acting against strikers movements may rather be an expression of the desire to regulate
situations in which conflicts can occur within a democratic system. It is worth observing that

11

TABLE 3 ACTIONS WHICH THE GOVERNMENT MIGHT TAKE IN SITUATIONS OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
CONFLICT ( IN %)
Sept. 1989 Dec. 1989 - 1990 1993
1
2
3
4
1997 5 2002 - 6
Yes
32,5
33,3
26,5
28,3 28,6
49,7
Banmore
strikes
over
than twenty years under consideration, in virtually all cases the number of those
who answered Dont know or declined to give an opinion has diminished, indicating that the
anti-democratic position gained strength because of the change of orientations of this group.
In other words, with the passing of time, an important section of those responding who either
did not know or did not wish to say what they thought the role of the State should be in
questions which affect political conflicts, has become able to define their preference.

TYPE OF ACTION

Intervene in trade unions

Ban a political party

Censor the media

Close the National Congress

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4: Political
Culture and democratization;
5: Fund. Perseu Abramo; 6:
Eseb.

No
Dont
know/ No
response
Yes
No
Dont
know/ No
response
Yes
No
Dont
know/ No
response
Yes
No
Dont
know/ No
response
Yes
No
Dont
know/ No
response

55,1

50,8

60,8

67,5

64,5

47,3

12,5
28,2
57,7

15,9
27,0
50,4

12,7
-

4,1
25,5
65,3

6,9
26,0
59,5

2,9
-

14,0
19,5
69,5

22,6
17,5
67,9

9,1
24,5
67,3

14,4
18,2
69,1

11,0
23,4
64,8

14,6
19,3
64,9

8,1
24,6
68,3

12,8
-

24,6
67,3

11,8
15,5
68,6

15,8
11,6
70,3

7,0
21,9
66,4

17,3
64,0

8,0
-

15,9

18,0

11,6

18,8

The support for democracy can also be seen from another kind of data. Two of the surveys
carried out during the period included closed questions aimed at encouraging interviewees to
say what principles, rights and values they associated with the idea of democracy. The purpose
in this case was to explictly test the publics view of different aspects of the democratic system
based on structured conceptual elements. The data in Table 4 bellow draw attention to those

12

aspects. Firstly, in the two surveys separated by a period of 13 years the number of
answers Has to do with or Has a lot to do with pointing to matters related to democracy
grew by between 7% and 32%, the only exception being the one that associated democracy
and equal rights of women, which fell by 1.5% in the second survey. Secondly, the features
most associated with democracy were the right to choose a government by means of
elections, freedom of organization and expression and the view that it is the role of
government to meet the needs for employment, health, education etc. In effect, between
1993 and 2006 the features which were most strongly mentioned by respondents were those
related to freedom in matters related to moral and sexual preferences (31.9% increase), the
fight against corruption and traffic of influence inside government (31.5% up), the principle of
social equality (26.1% increase), the belief that the National Congress and the Judiciary should
be able to exercise fiscal control over the government (+ 24.5%) and the rule of law (+21.3%).
All these aspects are related to the quality of democracy, i.e., referring to the rule of law,
principles of freedom and equality and processes whose aim is to make governments more
responsible in relation to those they govern. Over the 13 years that separate the two
enquiries, the number of those who did not know or who declined to answer questions fell by
between 6% and 11%, the largest fall being among those who identified democracy with the
fight against corruption and traffic of influence (10.8%). Even if the 2005 crisis of mensalo
(illegal payments made to members of Congress for their political support to Lulas
government) may have influenced answers on this subject, it has to be noted that, back to
1993, 50% of those responding identified democracy with the fight against the corrupt use of
public funds. In other words democracy is generally seen as the form of government most
likely to deal with such issues. Controlling corruption in fact is a function of the mechanisms of
accountability which in turn form a central part of the concept of quality of democracy.
Table 4 Factors associated to Democracy (closed question): 1993 and 2006 (%)
1993 -1
2006 2
Has
Dont
not
Has know Has
hin Dont
a
Has noth / No
little ing respo lot Has Has g to know/
to
to
nse
No
do
to little do
Has a
do
lot do Has to do
wit do to do wit respon
Do you think democracy
h
has to do with
se
with
do with with with
h with with
The right to choose a
government by means of
8,3 57,6 31,9 3,7
4,9 1,9
elections
57,1
21,3
8,1 5,2
Freedom to organize
politically and freedom of
expression ( trade union
5,9 3,5
movts etc)
44,8
20,5
15,4 6,7 12,5 48,2 35,1 7,3
Social equality
36,7
18,7
19,1 12,8 12,6 50,8 30,7 8,4
7,0
3
Equality before the law
41,9
18,4
16,1 12,2 11,4 51,9 29,7 8,6
6,8 2,9
Financial control of
government by Congress
45
32 10,6 7,8 4,6
and Judiciary
35,6
16,9
21,2 11,4 14,9
13,
Less corruption and traffic
8 4,2
of influence
35,3
14,5
15,9 19,3 15,0 40,3 31,2 10,5
Government should provide
healthcare, employment,
education etc
49,1
20,1
13,4 7,5
9,9 55,6 32,3 5,3
4,4 2,3

13

Equal rights for women

47,6
20,4
14,7 7,3 10,1
54 32,5 6,2
4,8 2,5
Freedom in moral and
8,5 4,4
sexual matters
33,9
15,9
17,5 18,3 14,5 44,3 33,4 9,4
Source 1: Political Culture and Democratization; 2: Citizens Distrust of Democratic Institutions.
MEANINGS OF DEMOCRACY TO BRAZILIANS
Important as they are, the results presented above are, however, insufficient to resolve the
controverse previously mentioned. In order to offer a different alternative to the test in
question, the study focused on how Brazilians describe democracy in their own words, that is,
exploring the meanings of responses to the open question included in the questionnaires. The
advantage of using open questions in opinion polls is that those responding have to define
concepts, categories and life situations in terms drawn from their own experience, using their
own natural way of expressing themselves and in the light of their own level of political
understanding. It is a tough test of opinion which complements and confirms the methodology
based on closed or structured questions about democratic terms amongst others, as the ones
above mentioned (see Converse, 1964, in this respect).
Responses to the open question about the meaning of democracy have been codified in the
light of the three different perspectives discussed in the previous section, namely,
principles/freedoms, processes/institutions and the social dimension of democracy, and this
procedure shown that they included the great majority of responses given, including those
that were inconsistent. Principles and freedoms include, in this case, mention of freedom of
association and expression, freedom of participation, the right to come and go freely and other
related matters. Procedures and institutions include mention of government of the people, the
right to vote, free elections, the right to choose a government, majority rule, political
representation, access to justice and control of government spending. The social dimension
includes social equality, access to health services, education, housing, employment, fair wages
and economic development. Finally inconsistent responses involved the use of phrases like
Democracy is good, Its honest government, Its corrupt, Its a bear garden and such
like (see Appendix 1 for a complete list of mentions). The results of this codification are shown
in Graph 2 below.

14

The data show that between 1989 and 2006 the majority of Brazilians interviewed were
capable of defining democracy according to terms described previously. The precise figures
are: 54% in 1989, 65% in 1993, 47% in 1997 and almost 71% in 2006. Overall between the first
and the last survey there was an 18% increase. There was an important dip, however, in 1997
when no fewer than 53% of those interviewed answered Dont know or gave inconsistent
responses; this can be explained by the fact that in 1997 Fernando Henrique Cardosos
administration decided to introduce a constitutional change allowing presidents to be
reelected in contradiction with the local political tradition, and many electors expressed their
disagreement with the change6. Looking to the results in more detail, it appears however that
6

There is no much studies about the impact of this constitutional change in the public opinion mood, but
at the time being most of the Brazilian press referred to the fact that presidential reelection was not part of
the Brazilian political tradition. It is unlike, however, that this factor alone played such an important role
for the public evaluation of the regime in the following years, as the increase in electoral participation
suggests; in as much as the reelection rule started to produce a new political picture in the country, with
posivite results deriving from administrative continuation, the resistances to the change almost
disappeared.

15

in 2006 more than 32% defined democracy in terms of principles of freedom and associated
rights in their spontaneous replies. At the beginning of the period the number describing
democracy in these terms was higher at 40%, which may be a reflection of the lack of liberty
during more than 20 years of military regime, but in the next years the number stabilized at
roughly a third of the public interviewed. The data also show that a group of those interviewed
in the latest survey, quite differently of the previous ones, described democracy in terms of
processes and institutions, showing some fluctuation over the period, but by the end the
number had grown, totaling about 30% of the public, who by this stage had been able to
experiment several years of relatively stable functioning of democratic institutions. This is in
fact an interesting result, as it suggests that institutional change produces also changes in the
public perceptions of political regimes. Surprisingly, however, considering the substantial social
and economic inequalities characteristic of the Brazilian society, the alternative that was least
preferred by those interviewed in the four surveys was the one which referred to the social
dimension. Thus, at the end of the period analyzed, when the level was at its highest, only 8 in
every 100 Brazilians defined democracy in terms of substantive objectives7, which calls into
question the theory that ordinary people prefer democracy because they believe it better
meets their social needs. In fact, the analyses show that, although not completely rejecting this
aspect, individuals rather tend to define democracy in terms of principles, content and
procedures.
Another important finding of the poll was that, taken together with the number of inconsistent
replies, the number of Dont knows and those who declined to give an answer when asked
to define democracy has gone down over time. In 1989 they were about 46%, but by 2006 this
had fallen to 30%. In addition, the number of those interviewed in 1989 who gave incomplete
responses was about 7%, whereas by 2006 the number dropped to just 3%. This clearly
contradicts some findings presented by Dalton, Shin and Jou (2007) in their article on the
subject8. In other words, in the last year of the period under study, after democratic
government had been the rule for nearly two decades in Brazil, more than 70% of those
interviewed were able to give adequate answers to describe what democracy meant to them,
a proportion comparable to results of countries where democracy is long established and in
Eastern Europe, as the study of the above authors has indicated. Perhaps more relevant is the
fact the majority of those consulted defined democracy in terms of two of the most important
features of the democratic process, i.e., the freedoms and institutional procedures introduced
to allow popular participation and their corollaries in the political process.
This indicates that, contrary to the views held by part of the literature, the majority of
Brazilians are not just paying lip service to democracy or repeating what they might consider
to be the politically correct view; they do refer to fundamental aspects related to their recent
democratic experience. Usual interpretations of this kind of results are based on the premises
of institutionalist theories, according to which public support for democracy is derived from
the experience with this political regime; in other words, that the longer it persists the more
people will become used to its advantages, and stick by democratic values such as principles,
7
Baviskar and Malone (2004) also find that only 8% of their sample for Brazil difined democracy in
social terms.
8
Dalton, Shin and Jou (2007, p. 7), after analyzing the historical series of data from the Latinobarometro
of the last ten years, observed that the majority of Brazilians in 2001 were unable to answer the question
about democracy and added that, in a number of other Latin American countries, interviewees showed a
low level of democratic awareness. My researches clearly disconfirm this analysis for Brazil. A possible
explanation for the discrepancy is that the Latinobarometro did not used representative samples in every
year in which research was carried out and reduced samples were used mostly in state capitals in some
Brazilian surveys; see also the results of ESEB (2002, 2006) for the same question: they also confirm the
results obtained by my researches of 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2006.

16

freedoms and institutional processes (Rustow, 1970). Other approaches, however, emphasize
also the effect of values on institutions arising out of the modernization of economic and social
structures, with important implications for the role of education and the mass media (Inglehart
and Wezel, 2005). Adopting a probabilistic view rather than a determinist one, these authors
emphasize the importance of political culture in explaining the growth of support for
democracy. In this respect, as the level of attendance at primary school rose above 95% in the
1990s in Brazil and that more than 90% of the population have access to television in the
country, those aspects have also been considered in this study; but the theoretical premise
adopted is that these alternatives approaches are not contradictory but complementary, as
has been argued by the author on other occasions (Moiss, 1995; 2008b). Other researches
have also suggested that the public usually sees democracy in two different ways, one based
on values and ideals, the other related to practical results. In the first case, political and
cultural values are important, while in the second the role of institutions and their
performance is decisive for the way governments are seen (Shin, 2005). For the quality of
democracy approach, both dimensions are relevant because, whereas the first refers to the
content and fundamental principles of government, the second concerns itself with the means
by which such factors become effective; both are expressed in different ways and have distinct
forms of empirical measurement. The responses of Brazilians to both the structured questions
about democracy and the open-ended one, suggest that, on their own, neither principles such
as freedom or democratic procedures alone are seen by them as sufficient to define the
concept. Democracy is more than the sum of its parts, the significance of which is related as
much to aspects which affect the ability of individuals to control their lives - through the
enjoyment of freedom -, as the processes through which this is made possible as a result of the
workings of institutions. In a certain sense, it is as if Brazilians were saying, in their own words,
that democratic form and content cannot be separated when defining this political regime, as
both are part of the same process.
Tests of association shown in Table 5 below offer a new view of the subject. The associations
presented between the variable formed by those who were able to state what they
understood by democracy based on the sum of those who mentioned freedom, processes
and social ends with social-demographic indicators and those of political culture,
interpersonal and institutional confidence, political memory, evaluation of functioning of the
government and its institutions are those which showed significance to the level of 0.01 and
0.05. The variables used in the test are binary, as is the case of preference for democracy,
which is taken here in opposition to all those who preferred other options (see explanation of
variables tested in Appendix 2).
Table 5 ASSOCIATION BETWEEN KNOW WHAT DEMOCRACY IS
AND ATTITUDINAL INDICATORS
Variables
Sociodemographic
Monthly family income (low up to R$ 780)
Age ( over39 years)
Regions ( South and Southeast)
Male
Education ( low: analphabetic to incomplete high school)
Democracy
Preference for government: democracy
Democracy = the right to choose a government
Democracy = political freedoms

Coeff. of
comparability
.086
.059
.059
.089
.195
.171
.185
.150

17

Democracy = social equality

Democracy = equality before the law
Democracy = financial control of the government by Congress
Democracy = control of corruption and traffic of influence
Democracy = education, health, employment etc.
Democracy = control of the government by public audit and the judiciary
Democracy = equal rights for women
Democracy = freedom in moral and sexual matters
Democracy = multi-party system
Political parties are indispensable to democracy
The president can take decisions without consulting Congress
The country would function better if military rule were re-established
Brazil would be better if there were only one political party
Dictatorship is the only effective form of government in Brazil
Citizenship
I would vote even if it was not compulsory
There is equality before the law
Labor laws protect the citizen
Interviewees do not understand politics
I listen to the news on television
I am interested in politics
Confidence
Interpersonal confidence
Evaluation/ Satisfaction
Elections in Brazil are clean and honest
In spite of some problems, democracy is the best form of government

.135
.161
.130
.069
.133
.141
.105
.131
.114
.125
.075
.-164
.-155
.-130
.133
.058
.065
.069
.149
.181
.062
.083
.081

Source Research Citizens Distrust of Democratic Institutions (2006).

NB Variables studied are binary 1= an attribute 0 = the opposite.
The data confirmed the importance of level of education, but apart from it, there is an
association between responses from those who know what democracy is and different
attitudinal indicators such as preference for type of government and content of democracy,
political values, interest in politics, electoral participation, views of citizenship and awareness
of political information through television. A number of evaluation indicators of the
performance of government included in the analysis are not significant, for example
satisfaction with democracy, evaluation of the economy and others (omitted in Table 5). The
few evaluation indicators of the performance of government which are significant, however,
show very low coefficients of association. The results suggest that the opinion of those who
know what democracy is has as much to do with indicators of political culture and political
values as perception of the role reserved for democratic institutions. These results differ
slightly from those found by Meneguello (2007) in a study of the bases of support for
democracy in Brazil between 2002 and 2006, in which evaluation of Lula de Silvas government
and of the economic situation emerged as factors explaining that support. Some of the
following tests take up this question again from the standpoint adopted in this paper.
FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY
A factor analysis of the variable formed by those who were able to answer the question about
democracy and other indicators has been made in the following section (see Appendix 3 for a
full account of the variables included in the model). The test aimed to act as a check of the

18

meaning of the aggregation of variables relative to the two concurrent approaches, the
institutional and the cultural, in respect of public perceptions of democracy.
Table 6 FORMING FACTORS OF DEMOCRACY IN BRAZIL - 2006
Rotated Component Matrix(a)
Component
1

Meaning of democracy

,406

Attention to TV news about politics

,681

Trust most people

,304

Trust in the Judiciary

,718

Trust the National Congress

,794

Trust political parties

,766

Trust the Government

,661

Political parties are necessary in

Brazil

,812

Congressmen and Senators are

needed in the country

,808

Law Courts are necessary in the

country

,733

Proud to be Brazilian

,746

Equality before the law

,642

Brazilians are law-abiding

,713

The law should always be obeyed

10

,388

Labor laws protect the citizen

,453
,700

I would live in another country

Satisfied with democracy

,540

Democracy can function without

political parties

,833

Democracy can function without

Congress

,835

In times of crisis the Government

could ignore laws, Congress or
institutions

,782

Prefer democracy to a leader who

was not governed by the rule of
law

,615

In times of crisis the president

,779

19

could ignore Congress and political

parties
The country would function better
if military rule were re-established

,842

Dictatorship is the only effective

form of government in Brazil

,842

Positive opinion of the Lula

government

,756

Positive opinion of the countrys

economic position

,715

Interested in politics

,755

Feel close to political parties

,532

Political parties are indispensable

to democracy

,394

Would vote even if it were not

compulsory

,359

Positive opinion of the Judiciary

,633

Positive opinion of the National

Congress

,826

Positive opinion of political parties

,779

Positive opinion of the Government

,609

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser
Normalization.
Source - Citizens Distrust of Democratic Institutions, 2006
The model has included binary variables relating to the values, content and institutions of
democracy particularly relating to participation in elections and political parties and
variables of political evaluation of the Lulas government, and the national economy. In
explaining the variation above 54%, the resultant matrix created 10 factors, which suggests a
certain analytic dispersion of categories: 1. the first factor was formed by the variables of
confidence in institutions (weighting between 0.60 and 0.70) and interpersonal confidence (in
this case with a much lower weighting of 0.30); 2. the second factor grouped together
variables of the evaluation of institutions such as the Government, political parties, Congress
and the Judiciary (weighting between 0.60 and 0.80); 3. the third factor was composed of an
aggregation of variables which referred to institutions considered necessary for the country to
progress, such as political parties, Congress and the Judiciary (weighting varying between 0.70
and 0.80); 4. the fourth factor grouped together two evaluative variables, one of the Lulas
government, the other of the national economy and in addition a variable about obedience to
the law and another about willingness to take part in the electoral process (while the first two
had weightings around 0.70, the last two were about 0.30); 5. the fifth factor consisted of a
variable related to those who know what democracy is and other variables related to exposure
to political information on television, interest in politics and closeness to political parties (the
latter having a weighting between 0.50 and 0.70 while the first was below 0.50); 6. the sixth
factor joined together two variables about the need for the existence of political parties and
Congress for democracy to thrive (with a weighting over 0.80); 7. the seventh factor was made

20

up of two variables expressing authoritarian views (weighting above 0.80); 8. the eighth factor
linked other variables related to the choice between democracy and authoritarianism
(weighting between 0.60 and 0.70; 9. the ninth factor contained variables relating to
satisfaction with democracy, perception of the principle of equality before the law, as well as
abiding by the law and protection of labor rights (weighting varying between 0.50 and 0.70,
the last, however, lower than 0.50; 10. finally the tenth factor was formed by two variables
which related to a feeling of belonging to the political community (weighting around 0.70).
Prima faciae the responses of those interviewed about democracy only coincide over exposure
to political news on television, general interest in politics and most notably, closeness to
political parties. In principle, this linkage justifies, on the one hand, hypotheses which refer to
the effect of the international spread of democracy, but also to the way this form of
government is seen as being bound to one of the most important representative institutions,
namely political parties. It is noteworthy even though factors such as political confidence,
evaluation of institutions, choice of institutions necessary for the country to progress and
indicators relating to the political community seem to be distributed among different factors.
This in part confirms the hypotheses of Pippa Norris (1999), based on the contribution of David
Easton (1963), that the phenomenon of political support cannot be considered en bloc, but has
to be seen as part of the distinction between different dimensions that operate under their
own logic, which sometimes makes them appear separate and sometimes indicates that there
are points of connection between them. This appears to be the case in areas relating to the
political community, support for political values and finally evaluation of government and
institutions. It should also be noted that although participation in elections and recognition of
the importance of political parties, parliament and the judiciary come under the same factor,
they appear separate from similar attitudinal factors. Put another way, while there is
apparently more coherence in the way variables related to freedoms are seen, the view in
respect of democratic institutional procedures seems to be a good deal less focused.
Meneguello (2007) also reported some dispersion of institutional factors when discussing
support for democracy in her aforementioned text.
DETERMINANTS OF THE MEANINGS OF DEMOCRACY
The results presented here appear almost to show that, contrary to more pessimistic
expectations, the majority of Brazilians interviewed do have definite ideas about democracy as
an ideal, but previous tests did not allow us to clearly identify where these convictions came
from. For this reason, the next step in the study was to carry out a logistic regression analysis
of the variable which consisted of the responses of those who knew what democracy is and, by
way of explanation, a grouping of socio-demographic indicators and those of civic culture,
interpersonal confidence, political participation, evaluation of institutions and the
performance of the government of the day (see Appendix 4 for a complete list of the variables
tested). The aim of this procedure was to test the effect of indicators associated with
competing hypotheses, that is, not only those supported by this study, but also those relative
to the role of the international spread of democracy, the effect of economic and social
modernization, the influence of government performance - especially in the economic area the influence of religious beliefs, social capital and different forms of political participation. To
say it straightly, the model is not exactly parcimounious. Its adjusted R squared is nearly 0.30.
Lines in black indicate variables which are not significant and which moreover disprove
corresponding hypotheses discussed in the literature.
TABLE 7 LOGISTIC REGRESSION OF KNOW WHAT DEMOCRACY IS 2006

21

EXPLANATORY VARIABLES
Intercept
Men
Average level of education or above
Family income greater than R$ 1300
Economically active
Cities with more than 500,000
inhabitants
Regions ( South and Southeast)
Interpersonal confidence
Catholics
Whites
Listen to political news on TV
Interested in politics
Government should respect laws and
institutions even in crises
Reject return to military rule
Reject one party system
Would vote even if not compulsory
Discuss politics
Would sign a petition
Would take part in a boycott
Member of a religious group
There is equality before the law
Political parties represent electors and
the people
Elections are fair in Brazil
Govt. should intervene in the economy
Civil servants take no notice of what
people think
Political bodies do not give the people
enough information
Trust the police
Trust the National Congress
Mayors are necessary
Housing is good
Social security is good
Public transport is good
Corruption is a serious problem
Politicians use secret funds during
elections
Brazilians would use secret funds (
instead of politicians)
Brazilians would fake bills for public
works ( not politicians)
My familys economic situation is good
Voted for Lula in 2002
Economic situation in the country has
improved under Lula

B
-2,752
0,298
0,651
0,312
0,344

Sig.
.000
,014
.000
,071
,006

Exp(B)

0,022
-0,539
0,322
0,109
0,410
0,423
0,620

,869
.000
,025
,372
,001
,003
,001

1,022
0,583
1,380
1,115
1,507
1,526
1,859

0,315
0,688
0,507
0,264
0,534
0,359
0,302
-0,225
-0,273

,007
.000
.000
,027
,001
,005
,047
,093
,054

1,371
1,990
1,661
1,302
1,706
1,432
1,353
0,798
0,761

0,271
0,321
0,319

,040
,007
,015

1,311
1,378
1,376

0,283

,061

1,327

0,229
-0,205
0,248
-0,290
-0,259
-0,294
0,411
0,905

,046
,130
,095
,126
,033
,023
,002
,011

1,257
0,815
1,282
0,748
0,772
0,745
1,508
2,473

0,511

,007

1,666

-0,534

,002

0,586

0,369
-0,105
-0,176

,020
,372
,146

1,446
0,900
0,839

-0,108

,382

0,898

1,347
1,917
1,366
1,410

22

Source - Citizens Distrust of Democratic Institutions, 2006

Nagelkerke R Square: .0.286; model variables are binary.
In the model adopted, the most important determining factors for responses defining
democracy in terms of freedoms, institutional processes and social ends are considering the
coefficients of significance and odds ratio of explanatory variables the view that corruption is
a serious problem (2 times more than chance), rejection of a return to military rule (99%
more than chance), high school and above level of education (91% more than chance), interest
in politics (85% more than chance), talk about politics with friends (70% more than chance),
rejection of one party system (66% more than chance) and conviction that politicians use
secret funds during election campaigns (also 66% more than chance). It is also worth noting
that the interaction produced by the variables included in the model, shows that inhabitants of
medium and small-sized towns of less than 500,000 inhabitants and those with a family
income of approximately US$ 650 per month are just as likely to be able to offer a definition of
democracy as others, other variables being constant; in other words, these factors are not
decisive of a persons ability to answer the question. This could indicate that the political
culture in Brazil is changing, but these last factors are becoming less important. The view that
civil servants do not take any notice of what people think is not significant, but that public
bodies do not give the public sufficient information is (more than 25% more than chance).
Confidence in the police and the National Congress and the belief that city halls are important
did not influence the definition of democracy, nor did religious belief. In fact, the data
contradicts Ingleharts hypothesis, according to which Brazil, as part of Latin America, follows
the catholic and Iberian cultural tradition (Inglehart, 2000). Being catholic or having any other
religious belief had no effect on the results.
The most surprising results, however, were those relating to the hypotheses in respect of the
influence of a positive evaluation of the performance of the government of the day, in
particular the economic situation of the country and interviewees family economic situation.
None of these variables turned out to be significant in the model used, not even that relating
to support for President Lula in 2002. That is to say, contrary to the conclusions drawn by
Pippa Norris (1999), it is not necessarily the winners of the political game, in Brazil at any rate,
who are likely to be able to best define democracy. Rather it is those citizens who are critical of
the performance of institutions in dealing with corruption and of some public services who
have the best chance of knowing how to define democracy. Nor do variables which produced a
positive evaluation of actions of the government, at least in relation to the economy or
government in general, help to explain the dependent variable. This is not what Meneguello
(2008) found, and this suggests that we need more research about the relationship between
the performance of governments and the economy and levels of support for democracy in
Brazil.
It should also be observed that even with an odds ratio closest to 1, of the socio-demographic
variables, being part of the economically active part of the population (41% more than chance)
and male (34% more than chance) are good indicators of ability to answer the question. Of the
political culture variables, being white (50% more), listening to political news on television
(52% more), trusting the majority of people (38%) and believing that the government is not
entitled to disrespect democratic laws and institutions in a crisis (37%) are the factors most
favorable to being able to answer the question. One important feature needs to be
emphasized here. The likelihood of chance of the variable relative to the role of the media
(and therefore the international spread of democracy) did not show any spectacular result,
indicating that, although it may be important considered together with other factors included

23

in the model, it does not in fact appear to play the significant part it is supposed by the
previously mentioned literature. But knowing what democracy is also linked to other factors:
of the variables dealing with evaluation of the functioning of institutions, the belief that
political parties do represent the people and the electors (as opposed to the idea that that
they only represent the interests of the politicians themselves) and that elections in Brazil are
not subject to fraud are factors which influence positive responses about democracy (in both
cases, holding these views increases by about 30% the chance of someone knowing what
democracy is). The view, however, that Brazilian politicians use secret funds (66% more than
chance) and present inflated bills when charging for public work, as many believe (44% more)
are also determining factors in the capacity to define democracy. This does not apply,
however, to the belief that many other Brazilians would do the same as politicians are said to
do. There is a clear connection here between the view of democracy as an ideal and the
regular functioning expected of an institution. As far as public services are concerned those
who gave a negative evaluation of housing and social security had a greater likelihood of
knowing what democracy was, whereas in the case of public transport it was those who had a
positive opinion of the services. These results are apparently contradictory, but it is not
impossible that those who are critical of areas which are generally agreed to be most deficient,
namely housing and social security, are exactly those who have the highest expectations of
democracy, while those who are satisfied with an area such as public transport, which is
provided even though there may be deficiencies, may be reacting thus because they believe
the sector is relatively better because of the functioning of democracy.
In sum, the factors listed are related as much to theories of political culture as those that
emphasize the performance of democratic institutions. The model adopted in this study,
moreover, shows that the predictors of the meanings chosen by those interviewed to define
democracy predicate the involvement of ordinary people in the world of politics and in the
mechanisms for choosing governments. For example, those who discuss politics with others
(70% more than chance), those who would sign a petition or protest (43% more), those who
would take part in a boycott if necessary (35%) and those who would vote even if it was not
compulsory (approximately half the sample, with 30% more than chance) were all more likely
to know what democracy is. The results also suggest that memories of the military regime and
the old Brazilian tradition of non-involvement in public life may be losing force today. At the
same time, confirming some of the theories of Putnam (1998), interpersonal confidence is
important to these results. In terms of the analyses of Linz and Stepan (1996) these results
suggest that support for democracy in Brazil aside from the transformation of the political
institutions is based on favorable attitudes towards the government, expressed in rejection
of alternatives which might put it at risk, but also in views which reflect a demand for better
quality of democracy. Concern about corruption, moreover, suggests there exists in the
Brazilian society a demand for greater efficiency of mechanisms of accountability.
DISCUSSION
This study allow to some conclusions. Firstly, contrary to the skepticism of part of the
literature, the data show that a majority of Brazilians are capable of defining democracy in
terms which clearly refer to two of the main aspects of the concept: on the one hand, the
principles of freedom and liberties and, on the other, procedures and institutional structures.
These definitions of democracy clearly distinguish this form of government from its competing
alternatives. In other words, they are not just vague or imprecise ideas, influenced by the
international spread of democracy, which merely reflect the positive image it has acquired.
Our examination shows that the majority of responses about democracy, involving the
freedoms and processes associated with it, are influenced by the attention paid by those
interviewed to political news on television, but at the same time by political values such as
rejection of authoritarian alternatives, recognition of the role of representative institutions,

24

interest in public life and political participation. In this sense they are in line with the findings
reported by Camp (2000), Moreno (2000), Schedler and Sarsfield (2007) and also Dalton, Shin e
Jou (2007) according to surveys carried out in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and other Latin
American countries in recent years. Ordinary people in Brazil, even in circumstances not
entirely favorable, do know how to define what democracy is and the definition is associated
to an extent to their normative support of democratic governments, i.e. of the ideals implicit in
them; on the other hand, they are also beginning to expect that institutions will become
sufficiently competent to realize the democratic promises.
Brazilians definitions of democracy are influenced by some values of political culture and by
how they see institutions performing, but it needs to be noted that the evaluative variables of
the performance of the economy and the government of the day included in the analysis
models do not appear important in explaining the responses of those interviewed. Definitions
involving the two most important aspects in the concept of democracy freedoms and
processes are basically determined by political values and other factors, such as evaluation of
the situation regarding corruption and institutions in general, level of education and the
influence of information received from the media. Looking at this from the perspective of the
quality of democracy, it can be said that in Brazil democracy is seen as an expression of
institutional procedures for example participation in elections but at the same time as a
construct relating to political principles and values, such as freedoms, which clearly distinguish
the democratic process from its authoritarian alternatives. As Inglehart and Wezel (2005) have
pointed out, these factors are fundamental for the way government is seen as a cause and
effect of human development, in other words, as a perspective which sees individuals as
capable of defining the direction and meaning of their lives, which implies that they recognize
themselves as free and equal to do so.
One final note of caution: as Dalton, Shin and Jou (2007) have pointed out, knowing how to
describe what democracy is very important, but it is insufficient in itself to provide support for
the regime because the democratic process requires more than just a simple definition [see
also Booth and Seligson (2009) in this respect]. For a democratic system to work and offer
quality it requires public involvement in its institutions and that citizens keep a check on the
performance of government and public authorities through the media, political parties and
civil society. In the case of Brazil, the paradox represented by continued high levels of citizens
distrust of political institutions may hinder us from in achieving this, as this mistrust is also
associated with deficiencies in the functioning of these same (Moiss, 1995; 2008b). In this
sense, the fact that peoples definitions of democracy have acquired, over the almost 20 year
period of research, a significance which relates to fundamental human values such as political
and individual freedoms and the means which allow these to become effective such as
guaranteed processes that assist the functioning of those democratic institutions, may offer a
way out of the paradox. The results suggest in fact that a new standard of political culture may
be emerging in Brazil. Unlike some hypotheses of Almond and Verba (1965) about countries
where the democratic tradition is fragile, the way ordinary people see democracy in Brazil is
showing itself to be more complex than in the past, including, at the same time, human values
and the means of realizing them, which offer a potential basis of political support for those
who wish to overcome the present distortions and institutional deficiencies. The views about
corruption, on the one hand, and the role of political parties and representative institutions,
on the other, are examples of this. The meaning given to democracy by Brazilians can also be
seen as part of what Pippa Norris (1999), analyzing the situation of mature democracies, called
critical citizenship. In effect, while political parties are recognized to be vital for democracy,
their actual performance has been evaluated very critically, which is exemplified by the
mistrust that many citizeasns have for them. However, rather than wishing to eliminate them,
the majority of citizens seem to be saying that they should improve and perform their

25

representative function more effectively. This view about the democratic regime could serve
as a basis for pressure to introduce political reforms, particularly in relation to representative
institutions. Finally, concern over corruption also shows that there is a demand for institutions
charged with overseeing what politicians and governments do to improve their performance.
For a country whose experience of democracy is relatively recent, these signs can not be
disregarded.
APPENDIX 1 RECODIFICATION OF OPEN RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
1989 to 2006
Freedoms mentions of:
Freedom to criticize the government
The right to come and go
Freedom of expression
Could fight for better wages
Everyone can exercise their rights
Freedom of association
Freedom from repression
Freedom of information
Government guarantees the security of the people
The right of opinion
Awareness of rights and obligations
A free country where people are not slaves
Processes/ Institutions mentions of:
Citizens exercise their rights and obligations
Obligation to vote
Need for strict laws
Government not corrupt
Political parties should have the same opportunities in the media
Disputes between politicians/ Political disputes
Government with laws through parliament
A country governed by Congress
Fulfilling the Constitution
The people can oversee government spending
Organization of the people respecting laws
Government fulfills its obligations
Form of government
Government involving all social classes
Majority rule in government
Knowing how to demand your rights
Country has same laws for the rich and the poor
Citizens rights recognized in law
Same law for the rich and the poor
Balance between the three branches of government: judiciary, legislative and executive
Respect for the citizen
Rights and obligations laid down and applied
Punish politicians who steal from the people
Social Ends mentions of:
Right to public health independent of race, sex or color
Right to adequate public transport
Right to work
Government should improve conditions for the low paid

26

Right to education
Country with full employment, no unemployment
Equal rights for all people
Equality between citizens
Equality between men and women/ equal rights
No discrimination on the grounds of color/ race
Incomplete/ Dont know/ Did not say
Its violent
Lack of respect for the citizen
Its good
A country with honest politics
Laws not obeyed
President corrupt in government / politicians
Difference between rich and poor / social inequality
Racial discrimination
Lack of honesty
Governors impose laws incompatible with the needs of the people
Government dominated by elite politicians
Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians

Dont know / Would not say

APPENDIX 2 Binary variables used in bivariate analysis, but in Table 5 only significant variables have been included. Attribute
= 1 Others = 0.
Monthly family income (low up to R$ 780)
Age (over 39 years)
Regions ( South and Southeast)
Male
Cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants
Education ( low: analphabetic to incomplete high school)
Preference for government: democracy
Democracy is associated with
The right to choose a government
Political freedoms
Social equality
Equality before the law
Financial control of the government by Congress
Less corruption and traffic of influence
Education, health and employment
Control of the government by public audit and the judiciary
Equal rights for women
Freedom in moral and sexual matters
Plurality of political parties
Democracy cannot function without political parties
Democracy cannot function without the National Congress
Political parties are indispensable to democracy
The President of the Republic should be a member of a political party
Political parties are necessary for the country to progress in Brazil
Congressmen and Senators are needed for the country to progress
Law Courts are necessary for the country to progress
Prefer democracy to a charismatic leader not subject to the law
In a crisis, the president can take decisions alone, independent of Congress and the law.
The country would function better if military rule were re-established
I would give a blank check to a charismatic leader who could solve all the countrys problems.
Brazil would be better if there were only one political party
Dictatorship is the only effective form of government in Brazil

27

I would vote even if it was not compulsory

There is equality before the law
Brazilians are not law-abiding
The law should always be obeyed
Brazilians know how to exercise their rights
Brazilians are aware of their obligations
Brazilians know their rights
Labor laws protect the citizen
People like me cant understand what goes on in politics.
I have no influence on the government
Having the vote means I can influence what happens in this country
Im proud to be Brazilian
I would be prepared to live in another country
I watch up to 2 hours TV per day
I watched the political news on TV last week
Interested in politics
Feel close to political parties
Voted in the last presidential election (2002)
Interpersonal confidence
Trust in the Judiciary
Trust the National Congress
Trust political parties
Trust the Government
Elections in Brazil are fair and honest
Corruption has not increased in the last 5 years
Corruption has not increased in the last year
Satisfied with democracy
Positive opinion of the countrys economic position
In spite of some problems, democracy is the best form of government
In a crisis, the Government could disregard the law or institutions
The economic situation has improved during the Lula government
The economic situation improved during the Cardoso government
The economic situation improved during the Military Dictatorship
Human Rights improved during the Cardoso government.
Human Rights have improved during the Lula government.
Human Rights improved during the Military Dictatorship

APPENDIX 3 Variables used in factorial analysis ( Table 4)

Interest in politics, Up to 2 hours of TV a day, Listen to political news on TV, Low level of education, Cities with more than 500,00
inhabitants, Democracy is the best form of government, Preference for a democratic regime, Democracy = the right to choose a
government, Democracy = political freedoms, Democracy = social equality, Democracy = equality before the law, Democracy =
Congress controls government spending, Democracy = control of corruption and traffic of influence, Democracy = meeting health,
employment and education needs, Democracy = government spending is controlled by public audit and the judiciary, Democracy =
rights of women, Democracy = freedom in moral and sexual matters, Political parties are necessary for democracy, Congress is
necessary for democracy, Closeness to political parties, Political parties are vital for democracy, The President should be a member
of a political party, Parties are necessary for the country, Congressmen and senators are necessary for the country, Law courts are
necessary for the country, Voted in the last election, Would vote even if it was not compulsory, Know what democracy is.
APPENDIX 4 Variables used in the logistic regression ( Table 7)
Sex (male), Level of Education (High school or above), Income (+ R$ 1,300), Economically active, Cities (+500,000 inhabitants),
Region ( South and Southeast), Trust the majority of people, Religion ( Catholic), Color (white), Listen to the political news on TV,
Interest in politics, Think the Government should still respect laws and institutions in a crisis, Reject return to military rule, Reject
one party state, Would vote even if not compulsory, Discuss politics, Would sign a petition, Would take part in a boycott, Member
of a religious group, There is equality before the law, Political parties represent the people and the electors, Elections are fair,
Think the govt. should intervene in the economy, Civil servants do not take notice of what people think, Public bodies do not give
citizens enough information, Trust the police, Trust the National Congress, Mayors are necessary for the country, Housing is good,
Social security is good, Public transport is good, The majority of politician use secret funds during elections, Brazilians use secret
funds as well as politicians, Brazilians, as well as politicians present false bills for public work, The economic situation is good,
Voted for Lula, The economic situation has improved under Lula.

28

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