Abstract
A Bolívia passou por um grande processo de reforma institucional desde seu retorno à democracia, em 1982, reconhecido internacionalmente como um dos mais profundos da América Latina. Apesar de todos os esforços do Estado boliviano para aperfeiçoar e modernizar suas instituições, e apesar das reformas bem sucedidas em setores fundamentais do governo, a Bolívia tem um dos níveis mais baixos de confiança nas instituições dos países latino-americanos e os dados mostram indícios de que a confiança nas instituições políticas tende a diminuir com o tempo. Ao mesmo tempo, a Bolívia é o país mais pobre da América do Sul; tem os graus mais altos de corrupção na administração pública e, nos últimos anos, um ambiente político cada vez mais instável. Há indícios de que os efeitos de uma polarização regional de interesses, as percepções negativas da situação econômica e da corrupção e níveis baixos de conhecimento político da população boliviana sejam preditores confiáveis dos baixos níveis de confiança institucional que consistentemente encobrem a melhoria do desempenho institucional dos governos bolivianos.
Abstract
Bolivia has undergone a deep process of institutional reform since its return to democracy in 1982 that is recognized internationally as one of the deepest in the Latin American region. Despite all the efforts of the Bolivian state to improve and modernize its institutions, Bolivia has one of the lowest levels of institutional trust among Latin American countries and data show evidence that trust in political institutions tends to decrease over time. At the same time, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America; it has high levels of corruption in the public administration and in the last years an increasingly unstable political environment. Evidence indicates that the effects of a regional polarization of interests, the negative perceptions of the economic situation and of corruption and low levels of political knowledge among the Bolivian population are reliable predictors of low levels of institutional trust that consistently overshadow the accomplishments of Bolivian governments in improving their institutional performances.
Key words: institutional trust, regional interests, economic situation, Bolivia
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