the quality of democracy in la001

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The Quality ofDemocracyin Latin Americaedited by

Daniel H. LevineJose E. Molina

LYNKIER I E N N E RPUBLISHERS

B O U I D I RL O N D O N


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Published in the United States of America in 2011 byLynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.1800 30th Street, Boulder, Colorado80301www.riennercomand in the United Kingdom byLynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.3 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8LU 2011 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataThe quality of democracy in LatinAmerica / Daniel H . Levine and Jose E.

Molina,editors,p. cm.

Includes bibliographical referencesand index.ISBN 978-1-58826-761-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-58826-786-3(pbk.: alk. paper)1. DemocracyLatin America. 2. Political indicatorsLatin America.

3. Quality of lifeLatin America. 4. LatinAmericaPolitics andGovernment1980- I. Levine, Daniel H. II. Molina, Jose Enrique.

JL966.Q35 2011320.98dc222010038600

British Cataloguing in Publication DataA Cataloguing in Publication record for this bookis available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in the United States ofAmericaThe paper used in this publication meets the requirements

(?9 of the American National Standard for Permanence ofPaper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992.5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Evaluating the Quality of Democracy in LatinAmericaDaniel H. Levine and Jose E. Molina

2 Measuring the Quality of DemocracyDaniel H. Levine and Jose E. Molina

3 Chile: A Model Case?Leticia M. Ruiz Rodriguez

4 Argentina: Resilience in the Face of ChallengesMark P. Jones and Juan Pahlo Micozzi

5 Mexico: Weak State, Weak DemocracyClaudioA. Holzner

6 Brazil: The Persistence of OligarchyAlfred P. Montero

7 Bolivia: The Growth of Grassroots ParticipationMartin Mendoza-Botelho

8 Nicaragua: Chapiolla DemocracySalvador Marti i Puig


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vi Contents

Colombia: The Effects of Violencetnka Moreno

10 Venezuela: The Impact of Recent Electoral ProcessesVaka Pereu-a Almao and Carmen Perez BaraU

' ^ISS.:!^'''-'^ '^ ' - ^ '^ weaknessesDaniel H. Levine and Jose E. Molina

BibliographyThe ContributorsIndexAbout the Book

Acknowledgments

THIS BOOK BE GAN WiT H A CONVERSATI ON A BOU T HOW BEST TOunderstand the quality of democracy, and with our shared dissatisfaction withmuch recent scholarship that addresses this issue in general and specifically inL at i n America. W i t h the goal of providing something better, we gathered agroup of scholars from Lat in America, Spain, and the United States, and to-gether we exchanged ideas, papers, and comments. So our first debt of gratitudeis to the contributors to this volume, who worked with us over the past fiveyears. We are also grateful to the Lat in American Studies Association, the In-ternational Pol i t ical Science Association, and the L at i n AmericanAssociationof Pol i t ical Science (Asociacion Latino America de Ciencia Politica), whichprovided occasions for discussions.

We gratefully acknowledge support from the University of Mic h iga n (theDepartment of Pol i t ical Science; the Center for L at i n American and CaribbeanStudies; and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts) and from the U n i -versidad del Zu l i a . Earlier versions of parts of Chapters 1, 2, and 11 appearedin The Quality ofDemocracy inLatin America: Another View, Kel l og g InstituteWorking Paper N o . 342, University of Notre Dame (November 2007), and " L acalidad de la democracia en America Latina; Una vision comparada," AmericaLatinaHoyRevista de Ciencias Sociales 45 ( A p r i l 2007). A n earlier version ofparts of Chapter 5 appeared as " V o z y voto: Participacion politica y calidad dela democracia en Mexico'' AmericaLatinaHoy25 ( A p r i l 2007). We also grate-fully acknowledge support from Sanford Thatcher and Lynne Rienner in bring-ing this project to a successful conclusion.

Daniel H. LevineJose E. Molina

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Evaluating the Quality ofDemocracy in Latin AmericaDanielH. Levine and JoseE.Molina

SCHOLARS OF DEMOCRACY !M IMM AWIERICA, AMD OF DEMOC-racy and democratization in general, agree on a few important facts. There isagreement that the current wave or cycle of democracy has been more durableand has more depth and better prospects for survival than others in recent his-torical experience (Smith 2005). There is agreement that the origins of this newor renewed set of political systems can be attributed more to the operation of po-l i t ica l variablesthe discredit of previous authoritarian governments, qualitiesof leadership and pact making, and extensive social supportthan to economicor purely institutional factors. Indeed, many of the new Latin American democ-racies emerged in the midst of economic crisis and have survived severe down-turns that might have endangered their survival in earlier times (Levitsky 2005;Mainwaring and Hagopian 2005; Roberts forthcoming). As political realitieshave changed, the predominant focus of analysis has followed the course ofevents and moved from the concerns with regime change, transitions, and con-solidation (but see Roberts forthcoming) that dominated earlier scholarship tomore detailed consideration of the quality of these democracies. Analysis of thequality of democracy means examining the extent to which in theory and prac-tice citizens are provided with a full range of rights and opportunities, and withthe institutions and effective political rights to ensure that these are realities(Diamond and Mor l i n o 2005; Mainwaring 2003; Mainwaring and Hagopian2005; Mor l i n o 2004; Munck 2007b; O'Donnell 2004a, 2004b; Smith 2005).

How to understand the origins, workings, and quality of democracy is aquestion that has occupied scholars of politics since Aristotle. In the context ofthe current cycle of democracy in La t in America, analysis of the quality ofdemocracy has become something of a growth industry. There is an abundanceo f studies on issues ranging from the specifics of institutional formation, elec-toral systems, and political parties; to efforts to identify minimum "requisites for

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the quality of democracy in la001

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