Corruption Democracy In Latin America

A comparative analysis of the corruption of politics and democracy in Latin America focusing on Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico.

This text provides a comparative look at corruption within Latin America. Through case study topics, the levels of corruption, how democratic rule is affected, how it contributes to poverty and inequality, and the level of citizen reaction are all discussed. The authors also seek to provide the basic tools needed to understand this emerging subfield and to incorporate a basic knowledge of corruption into a broader understanding of Lain American politics.

Does corruption grease the wheels of Latin American politics, facilitating its operation? Or does it undermine democratic rule and worsen the perennial problems of poverty and inequality. Do citizens condemn, condone, or simply acquiesce to the corrupt behavior of their politicians? Corruption and Politics in Latin America addresses these thorny questions, offering a fresh and timely approach to the subject. The authors' systematic comparative analysis of six countries--Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela--focuses on patterns and underlying causes of corruption, the impact of political and economic changes, the effect of corruption on politics and society, and the nature and effectiveness of recent reforms. There is also a chapter devoted to regional and international efforts to attack corruption. With a common analytical approach reflected throughout, the book is both an accessible introduction and a source of new and provocative information and analysis.

Shihata, and Laurence Whitehead.

This volume on democratic accountability addresses one of the burning issues on the agenda of policy makers and citizens in contemporary Latin America: how democratic leaders in Latin America can improve accountability while simultaneously promoting governmental effectiveness. Written by well-known scholars form both Latin America and the United States, the volume enhances understanding of these key themes, which are central to the future of democracy in Latin America. - ;This volume on democratic accountability addresses one of the burning issues on the agenda of policy makers and citizens in contemporary Latin America. In much of Latin America, disenchantment and cynicism have set in regarding the quality of elected governments raising the prospect of a new round of democratic erosion and breakdowns. One of the important emerging challenges for improving the quality of democracy resolves around how to build more effective mechanisms of accountability. A widespread perception prevails in much of the region that government officials are not sufficiently subject to routinized controls by oversight agencies. Corruption, lack of oversight, impunity of state actors, and improper use of public resources are major problems in most countries of the region. Dealing with these issues is paramount to restoring and deepening democratic legitimacy. The fundamental question in this volume is how democratic leaders in Latin America can improve accountability while simultaneously promoting governmental effectiveness. These issues have acquired urgency in contemporary Latin America because of heightened public concern about corruption and improper governmental actions on the one hand, yet on the other, uncertainty about the potential tradeoff between tightened accountability of officials and effective policy results. The volume enhances understanding of three key issues. First, it enriches understanding of the state of non-electoral forms of democratic accountability in contemporary Latin America. What are some of the major shortcoming in democratic accountability? How can they be addressed? What are some major innovations in the efforts to enhance democratic accountability? A second contribution of the volume is conceptual. Accountability is a key concept in the social sciences, yt its meaning varies widely form one author to the next. The authors in this volume, especially in the first four chapters, explicitly debate how bet to define and delimit the concept. Finally the volume also furthers understanding of the interactions between various mechanism and institutions of accountability. Many of the authors address how electoral accountability (the accountability of elected officials to the voters) interact with the forms of accountability in which state agencies oversee and sanction public officials. The volume provides extensive treatment of this important but hitherto under-explored interaction. -

In recent years, corruption has become a major threat to political systems around the world due to its ability to damage and destabilize national as well as international democratic institutions. Since the end of the Cold War, corruption has not entirely changed in its pathology. However, this phenomenon has become a serious political and economic danger for states and regions, especially in Latin America. This book analyzes recent concerns raised by the problem of this region, focusing on three countries: Argentina, Chile and Ecuador. It gives an overview of definitions, forms and typologies of corruption as well as its causes and effects. Moreover, the book introduces and discusses different approaches offered as solutions to corruption. The case studies allow a possible explanation of the degree of propensity that these countries show towards corruption.

This book looks at political corruption in Latin American and Europe from both an historical and a contemporary angle. The approach is therefore comparative and interdisciplinary, bringing together scholars from history, political science, anthropology, sociology and economics. In addition to general essays, this book includes chapters analysing political corruption in individual countries: Italy, Spain, France, Great Britain, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay and Mexico.

The results of a cross-country empirical analysis suggests that political institutions are extremely important in determining the prevalence of corruption: democracy, parliamentary systems, political stability, and freedom of the press are all associated with lower corruption.