AVALIANDO O POTENCIAL DE FATORES CULTURAIS NA CONSTRU O DA DEMOCRACIA NA AMéRICA LATINA: UMA COMPARA O ENTRE 2005 E 2010

The transition process to democratic regimes in Latin America, although important advances can be observed in the formal-institutional arena, from a more wide spectrum that take into account social conquests, the results have been modest. Presently, this region lives an asymmetry between a legal legitimacy concomitant with the absence of social legitimacy. In this context it becomes necessary to go beyond minimalist democratic conceptions to conceptualizations that consider democracy as a social state, an ethic and a way of life. Based upon these elements this paper analyzes the present situation of Latin American from the political culture point of view, and subsequently proposes a comprehensive and empirical model with data from surveys conducted in three Latin American cities in 2005, 2009 and 2010, emphasizing the concepts of sustainable development, social capital and empowerment. The results indicate the existence of latent stocks of these concepts that if activated correctly could contribute to improve the quality of democracy.