| Abstract: | Exploring the micromotivations (Williams, 1979, 1988; Aguiar, 1991)or internal reasons (Williams, 1979; Lupia, McCubbins, & Popkin, 2000)that mold public preferences for either democracy or authoritarianism,this paper aims to discuss the types of rationality that liebehind people’s choices in survey studies in Latin America.From this perspective, we examine the balance between surveyrespondents’ evaluation of democratic government and theirviews of the efficacy of democracy to solve their country’sproblems, and their joint impact on the molding of citizens’preferences for a particular type of government. Results showthat satisfaction with how democratic government performs standsout as one of the reasons underlying individuals’ preferencesfor democracy. Also the belief that democracy does not solvethe problems significantly determines the people’s choice.Conclusions favor the hypothesis that, in the region, a utilitarianrationality prevails over an axiological rationality (Weber, 1922;Boudon, 1996) in the way citizens form preferences for or againstdemocracy. |
