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DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA

DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA. What exactly makes a country democratic ? It all boils down to holding government accountable to the common good as determined via the consent of the governed (example: US Constitution)

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DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA

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  1. DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA What exactly makes a country democratic? • It all boils down to holding government accountable to the common good as determined via the consent of the governed (example: US Constitution) • And how important is democracy relative to other important things related to government and society? Democracy is a means, not an ends

  2. DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA Mainwaring and Perez-Linandefn of democracy: • Free and fair [but not necessarily direct], elections for all key lawmakers and the head of government • Adult suffrage is [mostly] universal • The state protects civil liberties and political rights, [including association rights leading to more competitive elections] • Armed actors, including military, paramilitary, and criminal groups don’t have a major influence on govt. policy Other requirements? (Usually these are not seen by PSC as required but their absence may suggest the system is not fully accountable) • What about undo influence by the very wealthy? • What about approximate descriptive representation? • What about the right to organize labor and civil society? And guaranteed access by these actors to govt? • What about the protection of human rights, including a basic degree of access to resources that allow for autonomous expression

  3. Where democracies have to make tough choices? (i.e., where they differ) • All modern democracies have some element of vertical and horizontal accountability, but there is lots of variation on everything else. • What aspects of democracy to emphasize: Preventing tyranny? Majority rule? Minority protections? How much deliberation, with how many groups at the table? How responsive over the short term? What—if any—veto points should there be? • How much should be written down? Constitutional assemblies? Which civil liberties? Which rights? Independent courts with judicial review? Easy/hard to amend? • Presidential vs. parliamentary democracy? Directly-elected presidents (with run-offs, please!)? How many legislative houses? How much overlapping power among branches? Fixed electoral terms? Votes of no confidence? • How much substantive representation? Should representatives who look like the people (gender, race, class)? • How many political parties? What size districts? FPTP elections? Closed list PR? Open list-PR? Thresholds? • Rotating or forced sharing of power (consocialism) among parties? In US, “Fair Districts” looking at this. • How much federalism, including local governance, on key issues? • How much direct accountability to the people’s desires? Term limits? Recalls? Early elections? Direct democracy on big policy questions? Lots of Latin American countries have these.

  4. How do we measure how democratic a country is? • Can you measure democracy in a uniform way so that you can compare societies that have made different choices about what aspects of democracy they will prefer? Is there any bottom line? Do we miss things when we seek uniformity and measurement? • What’s the difference between democratic procedures (inputs, including liberties) and democratic governance (outputs, social/basic rights)? • What happens when non-state actors undermine core procedures (lots of focus on this in political science)? What happens when they undermine governance (think about the US for a moment?)

  5. ONE WAY OF MEASURING DEMOC – BY LIBERTIES AND RIGHTS (FREEDOM HOUSE)

  6. ANOTHER WAY OF MEASURING DEMOC (JOD 2008) - OUTPUTSCol. 1 (2 = best; 14=worst); Cols. 2-4 (WorldBankm +/- Std. Dev. From world average); Col. 3 (Latinobarometro)

  7. Relationship bw FH score and key variables

  8. What basic basic electoral procedures are required for elections to be democratic? • Are all adults allowed/required to vote? Is the process clear enough that all adults can vote? • Are elections clean so that voters can autonomously and accurately express their preferences? • Is the electorate offered a real range of choices? Do those choices represent the needs of society? • Are votes counted equally? • Are elections the only route to meaningful power in the state? • Are non-state actors buying votes or pressuring voters?

  9. Measuring popular support for democracy in Latin America • Why does popular support for democracy matter? • What methods should be used for measuring democratic support? • What are the limitations with polling? • Are their any special issues with polling in Latin America? • What specific questions can pollsters use to measure support for democracy? • How do Latin Americans see democracy in their countries? • What is going on over time? Is there evidence of an emergent democratic political culture?

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