The Impact of the Proportional Electoral System on the Democratization of South American Countries

Abstract

The paper discusses the impact of a proportional electoral system on the quality of democracy. In the paper, data was collected from Latin American countries in South America. The data of Polity 5, which is one of the most relevant and reliable sources, is used to determine the degree of democracy in the sample countries. The following study did not find a strong causal link between the degree of democracy and the proportional electoral system, although it is noticeable that the change of the electoral system was often accompanied by other democratic processes. This finding is significant in terms of that the electoral system can be an important indicator of democratization.