- Latin American Public Opinion Project
The Latin American Public Opinion Project is an independent
survey research organization atVanderbilt University . LAPOP has systematically surveyed the citizens ofLatin America since the 1970s on democratic values, political tolerance,citizen participation,voting behavior,local government , corruption, and views onauthoritarianism . It regularly reports the results of its multi-nation "AmericasBarometer" that covers South and Central America, the Caribbean and North America. The project has frequently published analytic and methodological reports. Its data has been the basis of scores of articles in professionaljournal s. LAPOP’s research efforts to date have produced more than 100 surveys analyzing major topics of great interest to political and social scientists, Latin Americanists,government officials, and interested citizens.These are available for free on-line analysis at [http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/lapop| www.LapopSurveys.org] . Surveys analyzing citizen views on system support, political tolerance, citizen participation, local government, corruption, and views on authoritarianism have been conducted and are now being archived for:Bolivia ,Brazil ,Chile ,Colombia ,Costa Rica ,Dominican Republic ,Ecuador ,Guatemala ,Guyana ,Haiti ,Honduras ,Jamaica ,Mexico ,Nicaragua ,Panama ,Paraguay ,Peru ,Salvador ,Uruguay ,Venezuela as well as forAlbania ,Israel ,Madagascar ,Canada andUnited States .The Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) came to Vanderbilt with its director, Mitchell Seligson. After 18 years at the
University of Pittsburgh , where he held an endowed chair and founded LAPOP, Seligson joined the Vanderbilt faculty as Centennial Professor of Political Science and a Fellow of the Center for the Americas in 2004.Since the 1970s, Seligson, his colleagues and students have systematically surveyed the citizens of Latin America on their political views—specifically on democratic values and their behaviors related to
democracy . These surveys and the studies that have emerged from them have sought to determine the extent to which women may be excluded from political participation, the effect of education on tolerance for the rights of minorities, and the effects of government corruption on citizens. The project has regularly published in-depth analyses of the data collected in Spanish-language monographs in countries throughout Latin America. These are all available for free downloading on the LAPOP webpage [http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/studies_by_country_and_year| Studies by Contry & Year] . Through years of polling in most of the countries ofLatin America ,Mitchel A. Seligson and the LAPOP team have developed a treasure-trove of databases ofpublic opinion information about political viewpoints across Latin America. This data has been the basis of scores of articles in professional journals, and has been the basis of many of the 25 Ph.D. dissertations that Seligson has supervised over the years; it has also been utilized by the United States Agency for International DevelopmentUSAID in its efforts to promote Latin Americandemocracy and, perhaps most significantly, by the governments of several Latin American countries. The data produced has been utilized as well by theWorld Bank in its Governance measures. USAID has provided major support for LAPOP and is now helping to fund five Latin American graduate students studying for their doctorates under Seligson at Vanderbilt. Recently, the project has received support from the United Nations Development ProgramUNDP , as well as the World Bank it LAPOP's recent work on anti-corruptionsurveys inAfrica .External links
* http://www.lapopsurveys.org
References
* http://www.lapopsurveys.org
* http://www.vanderbilt.edu/americas/English/pagemanager.php?page=who.php
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