Electoral fraud is less common in proportional representation systems than it is in plurality systems

What impact does the electoral system in use have on levels of electoral quality and fraud? Fabrice Lehoucq and Kiril Kolev share research which shows that plurality electoral systems lead to more ballot rigging than do proportional systems, that plurality systems are associated with inferior election quality in the Quality of Elections Database, and that electoral formulae have as much impact as social structure on whether elections are free and fair

Bolivia’s Constitutional Breakdown

Abstract: The attempt to revolutionize Bolivia that began with the election of Evo Morales in 2005 has led to the breakdown of constitutional democracy and the polarization of the country between the poorer, indigenous western highlands and the (slightly) more prosperous, more heavily mestizo, and more market-friendly eastern lowlands (what Bolivians call the media luna or -half-moon‖). The trajectory of relative stability and economic growth followed from the 1980s onward now threatens to devolve into constitutional stalemate at best and violent civil conflict at worst

Note from the Book Review Editor

New book review editor's introduction

Instituciones políticas, procesos de diseño de políticas y resultados de las políticas en México

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) En este trabajo se emplea un marco de costos de transacción para vincular el proceso de diseño de políticas (PMP, por sus siglas en inglés) y las características externas de las políticas públicas en México, un país en desarrollo con ingresos medios. Se muestra cómo un PMP altamente secreto y centralizado alrededor de la Presidencia produjo políticas de corte nacionalista que fueron estables, adaptables, coordinadas y consideradas para con el sector privado radicado en las ciudades y que constituye el soporte corporativista del régimen. Sin embargo, cuando el crecimiento flaqueó a finales de los años 70, este PMP no pudo adaptarse a la inestabilidad económica, aunque mantuvo su vigor en un cuerpo político cada vez más inquieto. El documento explica cómo un gobierno unificado y el control corporativista de la economía convirtieron a un presidente constitucionalmente débil en la envidia de ejecutivos de todo el mundo, incluso a costa de no poder promulgar reformas que resultaren costosas a corto plazo para los pilares corporativistas del régimen. El artículo también explica por qué la democratización durante los años 90 está dando pie a un PMP menos centralizado y más abierto, que beneficie a un sector más amplio de la población. A medida que se materializa la separación de poderes consagrada en la Constitución de 1917, el diseño de políticas se va entretejiendo cada vez más con el status quo. Por otro lado, un gobierno dividido conserva un marco macroeconómico que se corresponde con una economía abierta (como por ejemplo, políticas fiscalmente prudentes y un tipo de cambio flotante). Por otro lado, los frenos y contrapesos están ayudando a partidos nuevos y viejos y a grupos de intereses a obstaculizar la confluencia de voluntades en cuanto al aumento de impuestos crónicamente bajos (10% del PIB) y sobre la reforma de políticas nacionalistas que restrinjan la inversión del sector privado en el sector energético controlado por el Estado.

Political Competition, Constitutional Arrangements, and the Quality of Public Policies in Costa Rica

This article explains why Costa Rica, by the mid-twentieth century, began to depart from the all-too-common mixture of political instability and economic stagnation characteristic of much of the developing world. The article argues that this country has benefited from better-than-average public policies, a conclusion based on a major comparative ranking of state policies. It further argues that interminable political stalemates gradually democratized the struggle for power and laid the groundwork for an innovative constitutional framework, one that allocates the technical functions of government to a set of autonomous institutions. A central implication of this argument is that institutional design is the backdrop for development-enhancing public policies

Class Conflict, Political Crisis and the Breakdown of Democratic Practices in Costa Rica: Reassessing the Origins of the 1948 Civil War

The 1948 Costa Rican civil war stands as the most significant breakdown of emerging democratic practices in what many believe is a country with a democratic destiny.1 No other political conflict has so polarised the country and cost so many lives. Nor has any other civil war so influenced the way analysts view and understand the development of democratic institutions in Costa Rica. Why political actors in Costa Rica settled their disputes on the battlefield, however, is a question that has yet to generate a satisfactory response

The Costa Rican General Elections of 6 February 1994

On Sunday, 6 February 1994, elections were held in Costa Rica to elect a president, all 57 members of the Legislative Assembly and to fill 953 municipal seats (the rigidores and sindicos of cantones) as well as an equal number of their alternates. José Maria Figueres Olsen—the son of the charismatic leader that helped to found the National Liberation Party (PLN)—led this party to a narrow victory over Miguel Angel Rodriguez, the candidate of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), the party of President Radael Angel Calderón Fournier (1990-4). This highly contested race also furnished the PLN with the largest plurality of deputies in the Legislative Assembly. Results of presidential and legislative races are summarized in the tables found at the end of this brief note

Reform with Repression: The Land Reform in El Salvador

We shall seek to analyze two aspects of Salvadoran society-- one prevalent for a long period of time, the other a response more recent in origin.1 First, we will investigate the conditions that have been developing in recent years in the countryside of El Salvador and the ramifications of these developments for the peasantry. Second, we will analyze the political response, namely the land reform that has been formulated and partially implemented in a calculated effort to ameliorate a century-long process of rural stratification and, thereby, terminate rule by a landed oligarchy while frustrating a radical revolution. The task delineated above becomes important because of the problems currently afflicting El Salvador. In the cloud of misinformation that the U.S. government and the "civilian-military" junta of El Salvador have released in recent months, the virtues of the land reform stand out prominently. It is our view, however, that the actual results of the reform are quite limited at best and brutal at worst. The dismal reality becomes apparent once the reasons for carrying out such a reform are understood. The reform was implemented not so much to relieve the economic distress of the peasants as to "steal" the initiative from the left. The aim of the reform was to create a formidable group of peasants loyal to, and dependent upon, the embattled "civilian-military" junta to counter the threat from the Catholic comunidades de base – inspired by the preachings of liberation theology -- and from the supporters of the "Marxist-Leninist" guerrilla organizations.2 The uncertain effects of this reform, by extension, are to be forced upon the majority of the peasants who do not, and will not, benefit from the much-vaunted land reform. In short, this reform serves a dual purpose: it divided the peasantry internally into a minority who are, or who will become, supporters of the junta and a majority who are not; and in addition, it serves internationally as a symbol of the junta's "moderation.

Social and Spatial Characteristics of Voter Turnout in Guatemala: The 1985 Elections

This paper identifies the correlates of voter turnout rates in the ethnically complex country of Guatemala. It uses maps and regression analysis to comprehend varying turnout rates across the 330 municipalities of Guatemala. A central finding is that turnout is a function of the percentage of the municipal population that is urban and the percentage of voters who are male and literate. An unexpected finding is that turnout covaries with the share of the population that is indigenous and is inversely related to the size of the municipality. Finally, the paper suggests that high rates of political violence may not dampen turnout, but instead have complex effects on political participation

The Institutional Foundations of Democratic Cooperation in Costa Rica

Costa Rica's long-term standing as one of the few countries in Latin America with a stable democracy has prompted many to view its polity as an inevitable outcome of a racially homogeneous and relatively egalitarian society. Without ignoring the importance of sociological factors, this article contends that institutional arrangements played an equally important — if not more central — role in the development of a stable democratic regime in this country. The structure of Costa Rican presidentialism encouraged incumbents to maintain control of the state while it, as a consequence, incited the opposition to rebel against central state authorities. Political competition became more peaceful as parties that failed to hold or to capture the presidency were nevertheless compensated by being allowed to occupy legislative seats