Abstract

AREVALO-BENCARDINO, Julián. State capacity and support for democracy: challenges and opportunities for post conflict Colombia. Rev.econ.inst. [online]. 2018, vol.20, n.39, pp.159-186. ISSN 0124-5996.  https://doi.org/10.18601/01245996.v20n39.07.

Over the latest years, one of the major concerns with political systems around the world is what some authors have called the "democratic recession". Some recent discussions on these issues focus on the capacity of the state to respond to the demands of its citizens. This paper studies the relationship between state capacity -understood as state performance on areas such as providing security, justice administration, tax collection and guaranteeing rights-, and support for democratic principles and Colombia's regime. The empirical results show that lower levels of assessment of state's capacity are associated to lower levels of support for democratic principles and performance. These results are discussed in the context of the peace agreements between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas, as well as the implications posed by this relationship in regards to the challenges and opportunities for post conflict Colombia.

Keywords : Support for democracy; democratization; state capacity; peace building.

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