Amanda Fidalgo, Ph.D.

amandaifidalgo@gmail.com

New College of Florida

Country: United States (Florida)

Research Interests

Comparative Political Institutions

State and Local Politics

Non-Democratic Regimes

Latin American And Caribbean Politics

Subnational Authoritarianism

Countries of Interest

Brazil

My Research:

My research seeks to challenge the assumption that democracy ends at the national level and that subnational institutions are irrelevant for national democratic legitimacy and stability. In subnational authoritarian enclaves, such as those of Oaxaca in Mexico,  Bahia in Brazil, or even the US solid south after the civil war, incumbents maintain power over time using a variety of undemocratic tactics including fraud, corruption, and even repression. My primary research agenda focuses on studying this variation in subnational levels of democracy and exploring how it impacts national economic legitimacy and stability.  To explore these effects, I have developed an original latent measure of subnational democracy which I have used to explore a variety of outcomes including citizen support for democracy, political participation, and subnational economic development. Thus far, I have found that citizens living in subnational authoritarian enclaves tend to be less supportive of democracy and less likely to vote in both national and local elections. I have also found that subnational authoritarianism may actually improve subnational economic development by insulating political officials from populist pressures, but that it does not produce more equitable outcomes. In the future I plan to begin a larger book project studying the implications of subnational regime variation for national democratic legitimacy and stability. As part of this larger project, I conducted qualitative field research in Brazil where I interviewed state officials in two contrasting states, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul. This larger research agenda contributes to the literatures studying democratic consolidation, legitimacy, and breakdown.