Election Data Request (from CLEA)

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

Paper on Mexico's PRD by LAPIS member in LAPS

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.

Voting simulation

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).

Baldez on effects of gender quotas on candidate nomination in Mexico

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.

Moreno & Méndez on party ID in Mexican presidential elections

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

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.