Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America

Challenges of Party- Building in Latin America

Political parties are the basic building blocks of representative democracy. Political scientists have long argued that democracy is “unworkable” (Aldrich 1995: 3) or even “unthinkable” (Schattschneider 1942: 1) without them. Yet four decades into the third wave of democratization, parties remain weak in much of Latin America. Since 1990, major parties have weakened dramatically or collapsed al...

Making Waves: Democratic Contention in Europe and Latin America

Political regime changes and conflicts over such transitions often occur in clusters and advance like waves. As one country transforms its constitutional framework, discontented actors in other countries take inspiration from this precedent and start to undertake similar efforts. The frontrunner's success encourages them to challenge their own rulers and push for transforming the way in which p...

Institutions and Economic Development: Judicial Reform in Latin America

Political Institutions , Policymaking , and Policy Stability in Latin America

In some Latin American nations policy change occurs frequently, while in others it is stable, less prone to shifts with the prevailing political climate or shocks. The conditions under which institutional rules and the powers of key actors influence the capacity for governance vary, and this variation is seldom addressed in the literature. This project examines the effects of the interactions b...

Decentralization of health systems in Latin America.

Decentralization is often a major part of health reform policies. However, there have been few attempts to comparatively study the degree of decentralization and the effects of decentralization on equity of allocations to health, so we do not know how best to implement this reform. This article uses an innovative comparative analysis of the "decision space" that was allowed to local municipalit...