A Comparative Analysis of Political Confidence in the BRICS Countries

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze people's confidence in political institutions in the so-called BRICS countries, that is, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. I argue that the quality of macroeconomic indicators cannot explain the variation in political confidence between the five most dynamic new emerging economies, and that there is no substantial difference among the young, middle-aged, and senior-aged groups. By combing data from the Asia Barometer Survey and the World Value Survey, I provide two complementary approaches, one sociocultural and the other micropolitical, to reveal the factors that influence people's confidence in four major political institutions. The explanatory effects of these two approaches are mixed. Political identity and values, in most cases, have a significant impact on political confidence. On the other hand, high levels of interpersonal social trust, individual happiness, and satisfaction with living standards also show positive influences.

A Dissatisfied Generation? An Age–Period–Cohort Analysis of the Political Satisfaction of Youth in Hong Kong from 1997 to 2014

“…People's life satisfaction was found to have a positive impact on their attitude toward the government (e.g., Kotzian 2010;Lipset and Schneider 1983;Lu 2014;Wong et al 2009). Therefore, we can hypothesize that age and political satisfaction are in a curvilinear relationship, in which middle-aged people are less satisfied than young people and the elderly, although empirical research on the net effect of age on political satisfaction is lacking.…”