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.

Klesner on social capital in Latin America

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

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

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.

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.

Zamosc on Indian movements in Ecuador

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

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.

Cleary on Government Responsiveness in Mexico

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.

Holzner on Neoliberalism & Political Participation in Mexico

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

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.