Latin American Politics

LASA 2010 LAPIS panels

2009-07-11T11:40:00.003-04:00

We set up a discussion forum for potential LAPIS panels for the next LASA congress (in Toronto, October 2010). Please check it out at our Ning site, if you're interested in helping us shape our panels for the upcoming LASA congress.

New LAPIS social network site

2009-06-09T11:10:00.001-04:00

As blog/web coordinator for LAPIS, I've recently set up a Ning community for LAPIS. If you would like to join, please email me at mcentellas@gmail.com and I'll add you as soon as I can (I'll be traveling over the summer).

So far, we (Anibal Perez-Liñan and I) are just starting to set up the Ning site. For those of you unfamiliar with Ning, it is a social network site that can be tailored to specific groups and/or organizations. If you're familiar with Facebook, it's like that. Except that it is limited in membership to only those people who are invited by administrators (so far that is Anibal and myself, though we can expand that to the rest of the LAPIS executive community and a few others later). So this is meant to be a "professional" social network.

My idea for it is to stand as a place where those of us who study Latin American politics (and particularly political institutions) can keep in contact ("network"), share ideas (any member can start a discussion forum), post links to important resources and/or news relevant to our scholarly community (e.g. new data sources, calls for papers, interesting conferences, etc.). Hopefully, it will be updated more frequently than the LAPIS blog (my apologies for having dropped the ball on that this past semester), but not so frequently that it becomes a burden. More than anything else, it should be an interactive forum for LAPIS news (like a section newsletter).

To take a look at the site as it currently stands, here is the link:

http://latinamericanpolitics.ning.com

Please let me know what you think. I'll be traveling this summer (doing research in Bolivia), but will try to keep up with my email as best I can.

Election Data Request (from CLEA)

2009-06-06T14:56:00.000-04:00

David Backer (William & Mary College) is looking for district-level election data for Latin America. I'm going to provide him with data for Bolivia (1985-2005), but he is looking for data from other countries. This is part of a larger project he is working on with Ken Kollman and Allen Hicken (University of Michigan) and Daniele Caramani (University of St. Gallen). The data will be made publicly available as part of the Constituency-Level Election Archive (CLEA) online at: http://www.electiondataarchive.org.

The specific countries/years they are looking for are:

Argentina: pre-1983
Bolivia: pre-2005
Belize: pre-1979
Brazil: pre-1945 and 1966-1978
Chile: pre-1941
Colombia: 1931-1998
Costa Rica: pre-1953
Ecuador: pre-2002 except for 1979, 1984 and 1988
El Salvador: pre-2000
Guatemala: pre-2003
Guyana: pre-1997
Honduras: pre-1980 + 1989
Mexico: pre-1998
Nicaragua: pre-2001
Panama: pre-1999
Paraguay: pre-2003
Peru: pre-2001 except for 1995
Venezuela: pre-1998 except for 1968-1983

Additionally, they are also looking for data from the following Caribbean countries:

Anguilla: pre-2000
Antigua & Barbuda: pre-1971
Aruba: all but 1994-1997
Bahamas: pre-2002
Barbados: pre-1966
Bermuda: pre-1989
British Virgin Islands: pre-2003
Cayman Islands: pre-1984
Domincan Republic: pre-1962
Dominica: pre-1995
French Polynesia: all
Grenada: pre-1976
Guadeloupe: all
Haiti: pre-2000
Martinique: all
Mayotte: all
Montserrat: all
Netherlands Antilles: all
New Caledonia: all
St. Barthelemy: all
St. Helena: all
St. Kitts & Nevis: pre-1995
St. Lucia: 1987 (x 2)
St. Martin: all
St. Pierre & Miquelon: all
St. Vincent & Grenadine: pre-2001 except for 1957
Trinidad and Tobago: pre-1995

If you are insterested, you may contact David Backer directly at: daback@wm.edu

LAPIS Travel Grants

2009-05-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

Two grants of $1000 each will be offered to members of the Section to present their research at the Rio Congress. Priority will be given to graduate students and colleagues residing in Latin America. All applicants must be listed on the program as presenters and must be members of LAPIS at the time of the application. The selection committee will be formed by Todd Eisenstadt (Chair, American University), Flavia Freidenberg (Universidad de Salamanca), and Gabriel Negretto (CIDE).

To apply for the travel grant, please request an application form from: eisensta@american.edu, flavia@usal.es, gabriel.negretto@cide.edu

The deadline for grant applications is May 11, 2009. Decisions will be announced on May 29.

LAPIS Best Paper Award

2009-05-04T15:29:00.000-04:00

An award of $300 will be offered to the best paper on political institutions presented at the Montreal conference. The award committee will be formed by Cynthia McClintock (Chair, George Washington University), Ryan Carlin (Georgia State University), and Patricio Navia (Universidad Diego Portales).Please e-mail the proposed paper, together with a short note of nomination, to: mcclin@gwu.edu, polrec@langate.gsu.edu, patricio.navia@udp.clThe deadline to nominate papers is May 11, 2009. The selection will be announced on June 5.

Paper on Mexico's PRD by LAPIS member in LAPS

2009-02-14T13:14:00.001-05:00

Tina Hilgers (2008), "Causes and Consequences of Political Clientelism: Mexico's PRD in Comparative Perspective", Latin American Politics and Society 50 (4): 123-153.

Abstract:
PRD politicians and officials widely use clientelism to structure their relationships with citizens. This is due not only to the entrenchment of clientelism in Mexican politics or to high rates of poverty and inequality, but also to the limited institutionalization of democratic rules inside the party. The last stems largely from the party's electoral strategy in its formative years, and has resulted in uncontrolled factional battles that play out through clientelism. The Brazilian PT faced external and internal conditions quite similar to those of the PRD, but its early focus on organization building and policy change allowed it to avoid clientelism to a greater degree. This analysis problematizes the trend of using minimalist definitions that assume clientelism to be nondemocratic because these approaches result in conceptual stretching and decreased explanatory power.

Information on the Peruvian Congress

2009-01-28T15:29:00.001-05:00

César Delgado, who is a professor at the Catholic University in Lima and also an official in Congress, has posted his materials on the Peruvian Congress:

"In the papers, books and presentations you may find not only analysis on the current performance of the Peruvian parliamentary institutions, but you will also obtain some historical and cultural explanations to the development of parliamentary behaviour, which I think could be properly considered sources for further academic enquiries."

In case you are interested you may check

http://arrugasparlamentarias.blogspot.com

http://arrugasparlamentarias.blogspot.com

Posdoctoral Opportunity at Bentley

2008-09-15T11:09:00.000-04:00

The Jeanne and Dan Valente Center for the Arts and Sciences at Bentley College, a four-year private university in greater Boston is pleased toannounce that it is accepting applications for its 2009-2010postdoctoral fellowship. The Center seeks postdoctoral students fromany discipline in the arts and sciences who are working within the broadtheme identified below. The 2009-10 theme, "Behaving Ourselves:Motivation and Agency Across the Disciplines," is described at theValente Center's website,http://www.bentley.edu/arts-sciences-center/index.cfm, as is theapplication process. The Valente Center encourages interdisciplinaryprojects and work that connects the arts and sciences to businessdisciplines. Candidates must have PhD in hand by June 30, 2009, maynot have received their doctoral degree earlier than September 2006, andmust be in residence at Bentley College during the fellowship period.The postdoctoral fellow will receive a total stipend of $40,000 for thenine-month residency as well as office space and borrowing privileges atBentley and research libraries in the Boston area, as needed. A c.v.,project title and one-page abstract, 10-page project description,article-length writing sample, brief description of teaching interests,and two letters of recommendation should be submitted no later than December 1st, 2008.

MPSA: Panel on Campaigns

2008-09-12T10:37:00.001-04:00

Joy Langston and I (Allyson Benton) would like to put a panel together forthe Midwest on political campaigns in Latin America. We currently have aproject on campaign visit strategies in Mexico and would love papers onMexico or other nations. Papers could be on campaign visits, spending,spots, etc…. at any level of government. Is there anyone working on thistopic that might be interested in participating? If you are, please emailAllyson Benton (allyson.benton@cide.edu). Thanks,Allyson Benton Dra. Allyson Lucinda BentonProfesor-InvestigadorDivisión de Estudios PolíticosCentro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, A.C.Carretera México-Toluca 3655Colonia Lomas de Santa FéMéxico, D.F. C.P. 01210Tel.: (52) 55-5727-9800, ext. 2408Fax.: (52) 55-5727-9871E-Mail: allyson.benton@cide.edu

Call for Papers on Executive-Legislative Relations

2008-04-16T08:45:00.003-04:00

Colombia International, a refereed journal published by Political Science Department of the University of the Andes in Bogotá, is inviting interested parties to submit articles for a special edition on the relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government, more specifically related to the allocation of public investment. This edition will be published in December, 2008. We are seeking original articles that explore and broaden current debates pertaining to the following themes:

- Decentralization and fiscal policy
- Political process and public investment
- Electoral influences and public investments
- Pork barrel allocations
- Budgeting and the political cycle
- Political economy of clientelism
- Political economy of populism

Articles should not exceed 9,000 words (Times New Roman, 12) including graphs, tables, footnotes and bibliography. The bibliography must be placed at the end of the text. Book references must include: author's first and second names, title, place of publication, publisher, year of last edition, and pages cited; references must include: author's first and second names, title in quotation marks, name of journal, magazine or newspaper, volume, year of publication (if it is a daily newspaper, include full dates and cite specific pages).

Occasionally, documents in English and Portuguese will be considered for the publication. Articles, including an abstract, should be sent electronically (in Word or rtf) by August 1, 2008 to the following recipient:

Luis Bernardo Mejía
Assistant Professor
Political Science Department
Universidad de los Andes
Bogotá, Colombia
e-mail: luimejia@uniandes.edu.co

Salamanca - Convocatoria de Cátedras de profesores invitados 2008-2009

2008-04-14T13:27:00.002-04:00

El Instituto Interuniversitario de Iberoamérica de la Universidad de Salamanca ha acordado lanzar una nueva convocatoria del programa de cooperación científica con América Latina en elmarco de su Posgrado Oficial en Estudios Latinoamericanos. El objetivo es reforzar los lazos académicos que ya viene manteniendo con la comunidad latinoamericana. Por ello, en el curso académico 2007-2008, el Instituto creó tres cátedras en los campos de Literatura, Ciencia Política y Economía, a partir de los cuales, docentes e investigadores especialistas en el área latinoamericana formarán parte del programa docente del Master Oficial en Estudios Latinoamericanos. Las Cátedras son las siguientes:

Cátedra de Ciencia Política Federico Gil
Cátedra de Economía Tomás de Mercado
Cátedra de Literatura Latinoamericana Miguel de Unamuno

Las propuestas para el curso universitario 2008-2009 pueden enviarse por correo electrónico
o por correo postal, deben llegar antes del 30 de mayo de 2008 y deben dirigirse a:

Cátedras de Profesores Invitados
Instituto Interuniversitario de Iberoamérica
Universidad de Salamanca
C/ Fonseca, 2
37002 Salamanca
España

o al correo electrónico: mel@usal.es

Para solicitar cualquier información complementaria, pueden dirigirse a:

Flavia Freidenberg
Coordinadora Académica del Máster en Estudios Latinoamericanos
flavia@usal.es

La Comisión Académica del Posgrado realizará la selección de las candidaturas y comunicará
su decisión antes del 1 de julio de 2008 a través de la página web del Instituto y en carta
personalizada a los beneficiarios seleccionados

New book on courts & policy in Brazil

2008-03-03T11:32:00.001-05:00

Judging Policy: Courts and Policy Reform in Democratic Brazil (Stanford University Press, 2008), by Matthew M. Taylor, University of São Paulo.

Drawing on the experience of the Brazilian federal courts since the transition to democracy, Judging Policy examines the judiciary's role in debating and formulating public policy in Latin America’s largest democracy. During a period of energetic policy reform, the high salience of many policies and a judicial structure conducive to policy contestation ensured that Brazilian courts would become an important institution at the heart of the policy process. Through a study of the full federal court system, this book develops a framework with cross-national implications for understanding how courts influence policy actors' political strategies and the distribution of power in new democracies.

Greenleaf Library Fellowships

2008-03-02T17:56:00.001-05:00

The Latin American Library at Tulane University is pleased to announce the Richard E. Greenleaf Library Fellowships to support research at the library. These fellowships are made possible through the generosity of Tulane emeritus professor and distinguished historian Richard E. Greenleaf. Their purpose is to offer researchers who permanently reside in any country of Latin America or the Caribbean short-term residential fellowships to use the resources of the Latin American Library at Tulane to conduct research in any field of the humanities or social sciences.

Up to three fellowships will be granted every year, beginning in 2007. Each fellowship will cover the cost of round-trip airfare as well as housing and living expenses, for a period of one to three months. Fellowships are available to any qualified scholar--including independent researchers and advanced graduate students--who resides permanently in any country in Latin America or the Caribbean. Applications from scholars of any nationality who are permanent residents of any country in the region will be considered, but preference will be given to citizens of Latin American or Caribbean nations. Fellowship winners will be expected to relocate to New Orleans for the duration of the fellowship and to give a public presentation at Tulane of their work-in-progress during their stay. Fellowships may be held at any time between July 20, 2008 and June 30, 2009.

The application deadline for fellowships for 2008-2009 is 5pm Central Time, April 18, 2008.

Aside from the residential requirement, criteria for selection include:

* The merit of the research project and proposal, which should be in any field of the humanities or social sciences.

* The relevance to the project of the resources of the Latin American Library.

* The scholarly achievements and merit of the candidate, and the significance of his/her project.

For more information: http://lal.tulane.edu/programs/greenleaf/index.htm

New book by Steve Ellner

2008-02-25T10:33:00.003-05:00

Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon

Steve Ellner

Lynne Rienner, January 2008/260 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-58826-560-9 HC $55.00

In this fresh look at Venezuelan politics, Steve Ellner emphasizes the central significance of the country s economic and social cleavages. Ellner's journey through modern Venezuelan history—observing popular masses and social actors as much as political elites and formal institutions—fundamentally informs his analysis of Hugo Chávez's presidency and the "Bolivarian Revolution" at its core. Perhaps equally important, as he explores the rise of Chávismo, opposition within the country and abroad, internal tensions in the Chávista movement, and the trajectory of the Chávez government domestically and on the international stage, he sheds new light not only on Venezuela, but also on the recent political turmoil elsewhere in Latin America.

CONTENTS:
Foreword—Kenneth Roberts.
Introduction: Rethinking Venezuelan Politics.
From the Colonial Period to 1958: A Brief Overview.
Venezuela's "Model" Democracy, 1958-1989.
Neoliberal Reforms and Political Crisis, 1989-1999.
The Four Stages of the Chávez Presidency.
Conflicting Currents in the Chávez Movement.
The Chávez Movement's Top-Down and Grassroots Approaches.
The Chávez Government in the International Arena.
Conclusion.

U of Maryland - Post-Doctoral Fellowships

2008-02-22T13:55:00.003-05:00

Post-Doctoral Fellowships 2008-2009

The Latin American Studies Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, is pleased to announce the competition for residential fellowships for Fall 2008 and Spring 2009. For this round, the Center will particularly welcome proposals that address culture and democracy, governance and civil society, literature and ethnicity, and migration from Asia to Latin America.

Fellows (one for Fall and one for Spring) are required to be in full-time residence at the University of Maryland during the period of award (Fall: late August-mid December, Spring: end of January-mid May). They will be asked to teach a seminar within the unit appropriate to the Fellows' discipline.Resident fellowships are limited to post-doctoral applicants (Ph.D. or equivalent). Senior and junior scholars from any country are eligible. Applicants do not need to be affiliated to an academic institution. Fellows receive $20,000 for one semester.

LASC is committed to affirmative action and equal employment opportunity.Applications for resident fellowships must include: 1) The Application Form 2) A description of the proposed research (2,500 words approximately) that defines the project to be carried out while in residence 3) Samples of pertinent publications if available (non returnable) 4) Curriculum Vitae 5) Three letters of reference.

Complete applications are due March 15, 2008. Announcement of awards will be made in April, 2008.

For further information and applications contact: The Latin American Studies Center 0128-B Holzapfel University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742. Phone: (301) 405-6459 / Fax: (301) 405-3665 E-mail: lasc@umd.edu

To download the application form and for more information, please visit: http://www.lasc.umd.edu/

FORD-LASA Special Projects

2008-02-19T12:06:00.003-05:00

(From Joy Langston, LAPIS Secretary):

LASA is pleased to announce the fourth cycle of the Ford-LASA Special Projects competition, made possible by a contribution by the Ford Foundation to the LASA Endowment Fund. Funds provided will support such activities as trans-regional research initiatives, conferences, working groups, the development of curriculum and teaching resources, and similar projects organized and carried out by LASA Sections or by ad hoc groups of LASA members. Proposers are encouraged to think creatively about how this funding might be used to advance the principles of hemispheric collaboration among Latin American Studies scholars and teachers. Proposals that do not assign priority to this objective will not be considered for funding.

Proposals should identify the participants in the proposed activity, the objectives of the project, and the process by which those objectives are to be achieved. The total amount requested in each proposal may not exceed $12,500. Grants may be combined with other sources of funding, and may be used to initiate projects that continue with funding from other sources. No project or group will be funded more than once.

Proposals of no more than five (5) single-spaced pages in length must be received by the LASA Secretariat by March 15, 2008. Proposals will be reviewed by a panel of four LASA members appointed by the President for each program cycle, chaired by the Vice President of LASA. Applicants will be informed of the results within two months after the submission deadline.

Preference will be given to projects that involve trans-regional collaboration in the Western Hemisphere, and which are intended to result in publication of project results. It may be possible for LASA to disseminate project results, including conference papers, through its website, which would not preclude eventual publication in other media. Project directors are encouraged to consider submitting a panel proposal based on their work for presentation at the June 2009 LASA Congress. Within 18 months of the announcement of the award recipients, the project directors will be required to submit a report on the activities undertaken with Special Project funding, suitable for publication in the LASA Forum.

If you have any questions about this competition, please write to Milagros Pereyra-Rojas (lasa@pitt.edu).

INDEC controversy

2008-02-19T11:56:00.004-05:00

There has been some interesting discussion on the LAPIS listserv regarding the Argentine government's recent "manipulation" of economic indicators at INDEC (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos de Argentina). I would invite some of that debate here, in this forum. Meanwhile, the LAPIS section head (Anibal Pérez-Liñán) is drafting a formal statement.

You may comment in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

LASA 2009

2008-02-06T11:19:00.000-05:00

Dear members of LAPIS:

This is just a reminder that the deadline for submissions for the next LASA Congress in Rio is March 28, 2008. You may find the forms at:

http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/congress/proposalforms.html

LAPIS currently has 150 members and is entitled to three panels (or round tables). I encourage you to send me panel proposals that you would like to see sponsored by our Section. The Section proposal submission forms are available at:

http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/congress/proposalforms_sections.html

Please send me your proposal before March 1. Only section chairs and co-chairs may submit the proposals for the sections, so this deadline will give us enough time to select the three proposals and submit the rest through regular channels. We will try to give priority to proposals that include young members of our Section and members from Latin America.

Best, Aníbal

LASA 2009 blogs panel

2007-11-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

Greg Weeks (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) is interested in putting together a LASA 2009 panel or roundtable discussion on blogs. Follow the link if you’re interested.

LASA 2009 gender & politics panel

2007-11-05T17:58:00.000-05:00

Adriana Ortiz-Ortega (El Colegio de México) is interested in putting together a panel on gender issues and the role they play in Latin American politics. She is working on a paper on the role that abortion politics and same-sex marriage has played in Mexican politics—specifically in Mexico City in the last ten years, but also addressing other states/regions. Please contact her (centellm@dickinson.edu) if you're interested in helping her form a panel.

LASA 2009 political parties panel

2007-11-02T10:03:00.000-04:00

Is anyone interested in helping me put together a panel on political parties in Latin America for the 2009 LASA Congress? I’m currently working on a project on the “migratory patterns” political actors within Bolivian political parties. I’d love to put together a comparative panel based on cases studies of similar (or dissimilar) phenomenon in other countries.

The panel would look at some common themes: Why do political actors migrate (i.e. “cambio de camisetas” or “tranfugios”) to different parties? And what does this say about party systems in Latin America? Are these migrations policy-driven (i.e. do leftist move within the left, centrists within the center, etc.)? Or do they reflect clientelistic wheeling and dealing? How do institutional rules (e.g. electoral systems) and historical legacies affect these migratory patterns?

I’m hoping to draw together a panel that looks at a broad range of countries, using different methods, and from different academic perspectives. Please let me know (centellm@dickinson.edu) if you’re interested.

Constitutional Engineering 101

2007-10-21T14:03:00.000-04:00

Last semester I designed a little “constitutional engineering” exercise for comparative politics. It’s probably better for a special topics course. Fortunately, I’m teaching just such a course this semester: Democracy & Democratization.

The simulation is rather simple. I designed a “Country Report” about a country (the Land of Oz). Students are then assigned into teams and asked to jointly write a 5-6 page policy brief recommending a constitutional design for a democratic Oz. After spending several weeks discussing issues of democratic theory, democratization, and constitutional design (presidentialism vs. parliamentarism, different kinds of electoral systems, issues of federalism, etc.) they should have enough from which to formulate a basic framework. The purpose is to test their ability to apply their readings to a “real” case (in this case, an imaginary one).

Voting simulation

2007-10-11T17:13:00.000-04:00

This is not technically about Latin America, but it is related to political institutions.

Last semester, I conducted a voting simulation in several political science classes at Dickinson College. This year, I hope to expand that to a much broader cross-section of the student body. In addition, I’m hoping to rope in a few other US colleges & universities, if possible. I’ll be running the simulation at Dickinson from October 22 through November 2.

The simulation is pretty simple, and shouldn’t take more than five minutes of class. Basically, I hand out three different kinds of ballots. Each ballot is handed out, explained, and then collected (after students vote), before handing out the next ballot.

I am using the same three ballots types from last semester: simple plurality, alternative vote, and ley de lemas. Additionally, though not requiring another ballot, I may count the plurality votes by “district” (each class) and use them to calculate a winner based on which candidate wins the most districts (a modified form of an electoral college).

If you would like to participate, please let me know. I want to collect as much data as possible and am curious to see the results from a broader sample. Here are the ballots, as well as the instructions (both are in Word format).

Hsieh et al. on how Venezuala's government punishes the opposition (and how the opposition punishes government supporters)

2007-10-09T08:08:00.000-04:00

Abstract: Do individuals who join the political opposition pay an economic price? We study this question using unique information on individual political activity from Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela, the Maisanta database. The names of millions of pro-opposition supporters who signed recall petitions (seeking to remove Chávez from office) during 2002-2003, and the names of progovernment supporters who signed counter-petitions, were made public. Media accounts detail how this information has been utilized by both sides: by the Government to punish opposition supporters and firms, and by the overwhelmingly pro-opposition private sector to discriminate against government supporters in hiring. After linking this political database to both national household survey and manufacturing firm data, we find that pro-opposition individuals experience significant drops in total earnings after 2003. There is extensive churning in the labor market: pro-opposition individuals disproportionately leave public sector employment and pro-government individuals leave private sector employment. Pro-opposition firms have falling total employment, less access to foreign exchange, and rising tax burdens (possibly due to selective audits). The misallocation of resources associated with political polarization between 1999-2004 contributed to a decline of 5% in TFP in our sample. To the extent other regimes can identify and punish the political opposition, these findings may help explain why dislodging authoritarian regimes often proves difficult in less developed countries.

Chang-Tai Hsieh, Edward Miguel, Daniel Ortega and Francisco Rodriguez (2007), “The Price of Political Opposition: Evidence from Venezuela’s Maisanta,” unpublished paper. Available here (from Political Science Weblog).

MPSA - Judicial Politics in Latin America

2007-10-05T16:10:00.000-04:00

As you know, the MPSA proposal submission deadline is very close. I plan to present a paper on the strategic behavior of the Colombian Constitutional Court (which is part of my dissertation project) and I wonder if anyone knows of, or is interested in a panel on judicial politics in Latin America.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Raga
University of Pittsburgh
(jcr753@pitt.edu)

MPSA call for papers

2007-10-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

The MPSA (Midwest Political Science Association) deadline for proposal abstracts is October 10th. If you are thinking about submitting a proposal, please do so. LAPIS members have a good track record of presenting papers at the MPSA (held each year in Chicago). MPSA has a number of tracks of potential interest to LAPIS members. The conference in scheduled for April 2-6, 2008.

LASA Survey on Congress

2007-10-05T14:22:00.000-04:00

As you know, LASA is conducting a survey about the Congress organization. Apparently they are interested in new ideas to improve the organization of the conference and to offer grants for paper presenters.

I wonder if we have any ideas that we could promote using the survey. A consistent message may capture the attention of the Executive Committee.

Klesner on social capital in Latin America

2007-10-03T22:59:00.000-04:00

Abstract: Scholars have argued that social capital—understood to mean those social networks, norms, and trust that allow citizens to act together more successfully to pursue shared goals—encourages political participation and a more robust democratic experience. Consequently, international development agencies have made promotion of social capital a major emphasis in recent years. Using data from the 1999-2001 wave of the World Values Survey, I show that in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Peru this relationship holds true. Greater involvement in nonpolitical organizations does lead to more participation in explicitly political activities. Higher levels of interpersonal trust also promote political participation. However, despite encouraging results from studies of popular participation in the region, Latin American levels of organizational involvement and political participation are moderate by the standards of more mature democracies, and levels of trust are relatively low.

Joseph L. Klesner (2007), “Social Capital and Political Participation in Latin America: Evidence from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Peru,” Latin American Research Review 42 (2): 1-32. Available here.

LAPS & Blackwell Publishing

2007-10-03T22:53:00.001-04:00

Latin American Politics & Society (LAPS) has announced a partnership with Wiley-Blackwell, to distribute the journal beginning with the Spring 2008 issue. LAPS is based at the University of Miami’s Center for Latin American Studies and publishes peer reviewed articles on a range of topics such as: political institutions, regime change, and democratic governance; civil-military relations and national and regional security agendas; U.S.-Latin American relations in a globalizing world; civil society and social movements; social differences and hierarchies (race, class, gender); economic development and the political economy of market reforms; environmental politics and sustainable development; and hemispheric integration and the relationship between domestic and global economies. LAPS has an international Editorial Board comprised of two dozen leading scholars from the U.S., Latin America and Europe. William C. Smith (University of Miami) serves as the journal's Editor.

TLA & Blackwell Publishing

2007-09-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

The journal The Latin Americanist (TLA) has entered a partnership with Wiley-Blackwell, which goes into effect with the Spring 2008 issue. TLA is the journal of the South Eastern Council on Latin American Studies (SECOLAS) and publishes peer review articles on Latin American topics from different disciplines. Gregory Weeks (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) serves as the journal’s Editor.

Heiss & Navia on constitutional reforms in Chile

2007-09-26T14:33:00.000-04:00

Abstract: Chile’s 1989 constitutional reforms constituted a trade-off: the military gave up protected democracy provisions but acquired greater autonomy. The democratic opposition could accept or reject, but not modify, constitutional changes proposed by the outgoing dictatorship. This study addresses a very limited time period in the transition to democracy: the moment after the transition has been secured and transitional rules have been established. The dynamics of this period differ markedly from those in the larger democratic transition. The approach in this study complements alternative explanations of why the 1989 reforms benefited the outgoing dictatorship more than the incoming democratic government. Although the outgoing regime granted several opposition demands by reducing restrictions on political pluralism and eliminating barriers to political party activity, it also secured provisions that made the military more independent of civilian authorities than originally conceived in the 1980 Constitution.

Claudio Hess and Patricio Navia (2007), “You Win Some, You Lose Some: Constitutional Reforms in Chile's Transition to Democracy,” Latin American Politics & Society 49 (3): 163-190.

Baldez on effects of gender quotas on candidate nomination in Mexico

2007-09-26T14:26:00.000-04:00

Abstract: Parties throughout Latin America have recently addressed two distinct kinds of electoral reforms: primary elections and national-level gender quota laws. This study examines how these reforms interact, their mutual compatibility, and their effect on the nomination of men compared to that of women. It develops a series of hypotheses about this relationship by analyzing the 2003 legislative elections in Mexico, a case in which the three main parties relied on both gender quotas and primaries to select their candidates. Although the percentage of women elected to the Mexican Chamber of Deputies rose, the Federal Electoral Institute interpreted the gender quota law in a way that weakened its effect on women and limited the degree of openness in the primaries that were held.

Lisa Baldez (2007), “Primaries vs. Quotas: Gender and Candidate Nominations in Mexico, 2003,” Latin American Politics & Society 49 (3): 69-96.

Zamosc on Indian movements in Ecuador

2007-09-26T14:22:00.000-04:00

Abstract: This article examines the implications of the Ecuadorian Indian movement for democratic politics. During the 1990s, the movement successfully fostered indigenous and popular participation in public life, influenced government policies, and became a contender in power struggles. But in the institutional domain, the participatory breakthrough had mixed effects. While the movement fulfilled functions of interest representation and control of state power, its involvement in a coup attempt demonstrated that its political socialization had not nurtured a sense of commitment to democracy. The evidence is discussed by reference to the proposition that civil society actors may or may not contribute to democracy. The article argues that the study of the democratic spinoffs of civil activism requires a context-specific approach that considers the particularistic orientations of civil associations and pays attention to their definition of means and ends, the institutional responses evoked by their initiatives, and the unintended consequences of their actions.

León Zamosc (2007), “The Indian Movement and Political Democracy in Ecuador,” Latin American Politics & Society 49 (3): 1-34.

LAPIS paper award winner: Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro

2007-09-18T07:06:00.000-04:00

Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro is the winner of the LAPIS paper award for best paper presented by a section member at the 2006 LASA Congress in Puerto Rico. The award was presented at the LAPIS section meeting during the 2007 LASA Congress in Montréal. Thanks also to Maria Escobar-Lemmon, Bonnie Field, and Steve Wuhs for all their hard work on the paper award committee.

Abstract: In light of extensive decentralization in much of the world, analyses of citizen satisfaction with democracy that treat citizens as subjects of their national governments alone are incomplete. In this article, the author uses regression analysis of unique survey data from Argentina to explore the relationship between local government performance and citizen satisfaction with democracy. She demonstrates that there is indeed an important link between local government performance and citizen system support but also that citizens distinguish between qualitatively different types of government performance. Certain measures of local government performance, such as corruption, have ramifications for citizens' evaluations of the functioning of their democracy and even for citizens' faith in democracy per se. At the same time, other types of local government performance, such as local bureaucratic inefficiency, do not reverberate beyond the local sphere. These results suggest mixed implications for future democratic stability in Latin America.

Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro, “The Local Connection: Local Government Performance and Satisfaction with Democracy in Argentina,” Comparative Political Studies, forthcoming. Available here.

Moreno & Méndez on party ID in Mexican presidential elections

2007-09-16T16:11:00.000-04:00

Resumen: En este artículo analizamos los patrones de cambio en la identificación partidista de los mexicanos en las elecciones presidenciales de 2000 y 2006. Apartir de la información recopilada en encuestas nacionales de salida realizadas a los votantes, nuestro análisis se enfoca en tres fenómenos observados e interrelacionados relativos al partidismo: primero, una leve disminución del partidismo no sólo entre quienes salieron a votar, sino entre el electorado en general. Segundo, a pesar de que la identificación partidista se mantiene como una de las variables explicativas más importantes del voto en México, se observa un debilitamiento en el voto partidario de una elección a otra, como lo evidencian los niveles de voto cruzado y voto dividido registrados en cada elección. Y tercero, un análisis multivariado con datos de ambos años muestra cambios significativos en la composición social e ideológica del partidismo, señalando una realineación partidaria importante entre ciertos segmentos del electorado mexicano. De 2000 a 2006, el PRI perdió identificados en nichos históricos, como las mujeres y los votantes rurales, muchos de los cuales se trasladaron al PAN y al PRD. Por otra parte, nuestro análisis documenta un traslado de votantes de izquierda del PANal PRD, y una desalineación de votantes de escolaridad superior.

Alejandro Moreno y Patricia Méndez (2007), “La identificación partidista en las elecciones presidenciales de 2000 y 2006 en México,” Política y Gobierno 14 (1): 43-75.

Salazar & Temkin on education & voter turnout in Mexico

2007-09-16T16:09:00.000-04:00

Resumen: En las elecciones federales de 2003 en México, los municipios con mayores niveles de escolaridad presentan menores niveles de participación electoral, contradiciendo una regularidad empírica detectada tanto en México como en las democracias en general. Para explicar este fenómeno, los autores recurren a datos individuales de Latinobarómetro (ediciones 2000 y 2003), así como del panel 2001-2003 de la Encuesta Nacional sobre Cultura Política y Prácticas Ciudadanas (ENCUP). En este trabajo se sostiene que los resultados agregados se deben a que los individuos con mayor grado de educación redujeron sus niveles de confianza en las instituciones políticas debido a menores niveles de aprobación del desempeño de estas instituciones, entendiendo el desempeño en sus dimensiones relativas al comportamiento de la clase política y los resultados de sus acciones.

Rodrigo Salazar Elena y Benjamín Temkin Yedwab (2007), “Abstencionismo, escolaridad y confianza en las instituciones: Las elecciones federales de 2003 en México,” Política y Gobierno 14 (1): 5-42.

Tilly on the Bolivarian Revolution

2007-09-14T10:14:00.000-04:00

The most recent APSA Comparative Politics section newsletter (in my mailbox this morning) has an interesting piece by Charles Tilly on Venezuela’s “Bolivarian” revolution. In it, he criticizes whether Bolívar was a “democrat” at all & goes on to provide a sociological critique from democratic theory. It’s worth a look.

Cleary on Government Responsiveness in Mexico

2007-09-13T15:47:00.000-04:00

Abstract: In this article I test two competing visions about how democracy produces responsive government. Electoral theories of democracy posit that elected governments are responsive to public demands because citizens are able to sanction bad politicians and select good ones. Participatory theories attribute responsiveness to a citizenry’s ability to articulate demands and pressure government through a wider range of political action. I test hypotheses derived from these two approaches, using an original dataset that combines electoral, socioeconomic, and public-financial indicators for Mexico’s 2,400 municipalities, from 1989 to 2000. The data show that electoral competition has no effect on municipal government performance. But the results are consistent with the hypothesis that nonelectoral participation causes improved performance. Thus, I suggest that the quality of municipal government in Mexico depends on an engaged citizenry and cooperation between political leaders and their constituents, rather than the threat of electoral punishment. I recommend that scholars broaden the study of government responsiveness to account for participatory strategies of political influence and critically assess the claims of those who would promote elections as a cure-all for poor democratic performance.

Matthew R. Cleary (2007), “Electoral Competition, Participation, and Government Responsiveness in Mexico,” American Journal of Political Science 51 (2): 283-299.

New Resources for Researchers

2007-09-13T13:26:00.000-04:00

At the recent LASA Montréal conference, we were introduced to a number of useful resources compiled by members of LASA’s Scholarly Research & Resources Section.

LAPTOC (Latin American Periodicals Table-of-Contents)
Free online tables of contents of lesser-known journals from Latin America.

LAOAP (Latin American Open Archives Portal)
A portal for social sciences grey literature produced in Latin America that includes free, full-text working documents, pre-prints, research papers, and statistical documents published since 1964.

LAGDA (Latin American Government Documents Archive)
Access to wide ranging materials & presidential documents from 18 Latin American & Caribbean countries, collected since 2005. The Archive contains full-text copies of web sites from approximately 300 government ministries & presidencies.

LAMP (Latin American Microform Project)
Collections of rare, unique, scarce and/or bulky research materials.

LARRP (Latin Amercanist Research Resources Project)
A cooperative initiative between US, Latin America, and Caribbean libraries that seeks to improve access to research resources.

Holzner on Neoliberalism & Political Participation in Mexico

2007-09-13T13:09:00.000-04:00

Abstract: Twenty years after governments across Latin America began implementing neoliberal reforms in earnest, concern is growing about their impact on the quality of democracy in the region. This article examines this issue in the case of Mexico by exploring how patterns of political participation, especially among the rural and urban poor, have changed since the implementation of free market reforms. It asks whether the institutional innovations associated with free market reforms make it easier or more difficult for the poor to participate in Mexico’s political process. The answer is not encouraging. Despite democratic openings, the new linkages between the state and citizens established as a result of the transition to a free market development model stifle the voice of the poor not through the threat of force or coercion, but by creating obstacles and disincentives for political mobilization that affect the poor more severely than other groups.

Claudio A. Holzner (2007), “The Poverty of Democracy: Neoliberal Reforms and Political Participation of the Poor in Mexico,” Latin American Politics & Society 49 (2): 87-122.

Dietz & Myers on Party System Collapse in Venezuela and Peru

2007-09-13T13:01:00.000-04:00

Abstract: What conditions facilitate party system collapse, the farthest-reaching variant of party system change? How does collapse occur? Numerous studies of lesser types of party system change exist, but studies of party system collapse are rare. This study draws on the existing literature and the cases of party system collapse in Venezuela (1988–2000) and Peru (1985–95) to advance some answers to the important questions about the phenomenon. The study posits three conditions that predispose political party systems to collapse: the presence of an acute or sustained crisis that questions the ability of system-sustaining political parties to govern; extremely low or extremely high levels of party system institutionalization; and the emergence of an anti-establishment figure with the desire and personal authority to generate a viable alternative to the established party system. The study also posits a three-election sequential process during which collapse takes place.

Henry A. Dietz and David J. Myers (2007), “From Thaw to Deluge: Party System Collapse in Venezuela and Peru,” Latin American Politics & Society 49 (2): 59-86.

Welcome

2007-09-10T08:16:00.000-04:00

This will soon be the official blog of the Political Institutions Section (LAPIS) of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). Please comment if you have ideas for specific content you think we should add.