O Estado oculto - Repositorio Institucional da USC - Universidade ...

Finalmente, Linz e Stepan (1996, 3-6) sintetizan a súa posición:
Essentially, we mean by a consolidated democracy a political situation in which, in a
phrase, democracy has become “the only game in town”.
[...]
Our working definition of a consolidated democracy then follows:
– Behaviorally, democratic regime in a territory is consolidated when no
significant national, social, economic or institutional actors spend significant resources
attempting to achieve their objectives by creating a nondemocratic regime or turning to
violence or foreign intervention to secede from the state.
– Attitudinally, a democratic regime is consolidated when a strong majority of
public opinion holds the belief that democratic procedures and institutions are the most
appropriate way to govern collective life in a society such as theirs and when the
support for antisystem alternatives is quite small or more or less isolated from the pro-
democratic forces.
– Constitutionally, a democratic regime is consolidated when governmental and
nongovernmental forces alike, throughout the territory of the state, become subjected
to, and habituated to, the resolution of conflict within the specific laws, procedures, and
institutions sanctioned by the new democratic process.
Linz (1996b, 36-37) pon un exemplo –tirado do caso español– para cada
un dos tres puntos da anterior working definition: (a) a resposta ao golpe de
Estado do 23 de febreiro de 1981 (polo tanto, pódese falar de consolidación
cando xa non queda ningún grupo significativo que poña as súas esperanzas
nun golpe militar ou nunha revolución; (b) o fracaso electoral de Fuerza Nueva
e da candidatura de Antonio Tejero Molina 236 ; e (c) o consenso sobre a
Constitución.
En definitiva, Linz entende que a perda de significación política dos
grupos antisistema e mais a crenza na democracia como sistema de goberno –
a pesar do posíbel descontento relativo á eficacia dos gobernos e dos partidos–
certifican a consolidación democrática, 237 e subliña a especial importancia que,
na fase de consolidación dun réxime democrático, ten a análise dos custos e
dos beneficios das medidas políticas que se toman, porque o que está en xogo
non é simplemente un goberno, senón a formación dunha predisposición cara
ao réxime. Neste sentido, pode “ganarse mucho seleccionando un número
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