A significant part of the Western literature on democracy assumes that political participation leads to citizens being more committed to democratic values. However, we do not know to what extent this is true in young democracies with an authoritarian tradition. Hence, this article aims to examine whether politically engaged Brazilians are more democratic. To do so, we analyzed whether there is any association between political participation, support for democracy, and democracy relativization through multivariate regression models. Our database comprises a representative sample of 2417 interviews with the electorate of São Paulo in 2019. The results show a statistically significant association between unconventional political participation and support for democracy. General political participation is associated with non-relativization of democracy only, showing a limited relationship between support for democracy and participation. Other variables, such as political interest, political knowledge, and interpersonal trust, are also associated with higher support for democracy.
This study investigates digital activism and democratic culture among citizens of São Paulo, Brazil. It aims to understand: 01. whether digital participation is becoming a surrogate instance of other forms of participation; and 02. whether digital activists share a specific political culture regarding democratic attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on a representative sample of 2,417 interviews, we apply multivariate analysis techniques to characterize digital activists in terms of political participation and democratic culture. Our findings show that digital participation complements -rather than replaces -other forms of participation. We also found that although the levels of democratic culture among digital-only activists were lower than among activists who participate in several arenas, digital-only activists embrace democratic culture more significantly than non-activists. This finding suggests that digital-only participation could be an important first step in developing democratic attitudes in individuals, albeit this form of participation is not sufficient to foster the highest level of democratic culture.
This paper explores patterns of collaboration in innovation between foreign firms and local partners in nine Latin American countries. Using microdata from the harmonized Latin American Innovation Surveys dataset (LAIS) and the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for comparison, the approach considers factors at micro, meso, and macro-levels to identify and illustrate knowledge flows between local and foreign firms in host countries. The empirical evidence presented shows that technological strategies of foreign subsidiaries, sectoral innovation patterns, and national innovation conditions are key elements in shaping local innovation collaboration with foreign-owned firms. Nonetheless, micro and country-side effects still overshadow sector differences. This study indicates that when foreign investment is focused on creating and increasing the technological capabilities of an MNE, collaboration can strengthen the likelihood of positive knowledge spillovers in local economies. In the Latin American context, differences emerge depending on the types of partners engaged in collaboration, whether R&D, or other firms. National systems of innovation also come into play in defining collaboration patterns of foreign-owned firms, especially in systems with greater technological capabilities. This comparative perspective therefore provides new insights regarding attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) and innovation policies in the region.
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