Representation By Consultation? The Rise of Direct Democracy in Latin America

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Barczak
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Party System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Cross National

AbstractMost of the countries of South America experienced two notable institutional phenomena during the 1990s: the reform or rewriting of constitutions and the emergence of direct democracy mechanisms. This paper examines the latter process through a cross-national comparison. The introduction of direct democracy mechanisms is typically driven by traditionally excluded political interests. It takes two forms, both involving the failure of representative democratic institutions. In most cases, these traditionally excluded interests win control over the constitutional reform and rewriting process, although this is not a necessary condition for the emergence of direct democracy. Drawing illustrations from 12 cases of constitutional reform, this paper links arguments about direct democracy in the United States and Western Europe, institutional change, neopopulism, and the decline of the party system in Latin America.

Voter Behavior in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew M. Singer ◽  
Gabriela Ramalho Tafoya
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Party System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Demographic Traits ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
Structural Roots ◽  
Established Democracies

Voter choices in Latin America have structural roots that are similar to what is observed in other regions, but these structures are weaker and more fluid than in more established democracies. In particular, while cleavages emerge in the average Latin American country and voters’ choices vary across demographic traits, issues, ideologies, and partisanship, these cleavages are weaker than in Western Europe and the United States. These cleavages are particularly weak in countries where parties do not take ideologically distinct positions from each other and instead emphasize clientelism, which suggests that the overall weakness of these cleavages in the hemisphere reflects the weak commitment of political parties to programmatic competition. Elections in Latin America are strongly shaped by government performance, especially economic trends, but these forms of accountability are weakened in countries where the party system makes it hard to identify the degree to which any specific party is able to dominate the policy process or where identifying a credible alternative to the incumbent is difficult. Thus, while voters are trying to use elections to hold politicians accountable and to ensure that their policy preferences are represented, the weaknesses of Latin America’s party systems often make this difficult.

Cross-National Comparison of School Victimization Between Canada and the United States

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian J. Cohen ◽  
Christine Ateah ◽  
Joseph Ducette ◽  
Matthew Mahon ◽  
Alexander Tabori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
School Victimization ◽  
Cross National

6. Maintaining the Spheres of Influence

2020 ◽  
pp. 159-177
Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
Nikita Khrushchev ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
East West

This chapter examines how the United States and the Soviet Union tried to maintain their respective spheres of influence during the Cold War, especially in three regions: Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Latin America. The death of Joseph Stalin and the assumption of power by the triumvirate of Lavrenti Beria, Nikita Khrushchev, and Georgi Malenkov resulted in a fresh approach to domestic issues and to the nature of Soviet control over its European satellites. The apparent change produced a new Soviet approach to East–West relations. The chapter first considers how the new Soviet leadership addressed the crisis in East Germany before analysing American influence in Western Europe and US relations with Latin America. The discussion covers themes and events such as the Soviet policy on Hungary and Poland, the Messina Conference and the Spaak Committee, nuclear cooperation and multilateral force, and the US response to the Cuban Revolution.

A cross-national comparison of the relative influence of male and female age on the frequency of marital intercourse

1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Richard Udry ◽  
Fred R. Deven ◽  
Samuel J. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Relative Influence ◽  
Female Age ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Probable Explanation ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Most Probable Explanation ◽  
Androgen Levels ◽  
Cross National

SummaryParallel analyses of recent data from the United States, Thailand, Belgium, and Japan all confirm the finding that female age and not male age is the more important contributor to the decline in frequency of marital intercourse during the childbearing ages. The most probable explanation is the decline in female (but not male) androgen levels during the age span examined.

A Cross-National Comparison of Victims of Crime: Victim Surveys of Twelve Countries

1993 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Block
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crime Victim ◽  
Sampling Methodology ◽  
Lethal Violence ◽  
Victimization Surveys ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Victims Of Crime ◽  
Survey Estimates ◽  
Cross National

Comparison of national crime surveys must be made very cautiously because of differences in sampling, methodology and content. In this report methodological differences between the United States' National Crime Survey and victimization surveys of other countries are examined and survey estimates of victimization are adjusted. It is found that U.S. rates of assault/threat, robbery, and burglary are not extraordinarily higher than those of other eleven other countries or regions. However, U.S. levels of gun use are much higher and U.S. levels of both gun and non-gun lethal violence (using Killias, 1990) far exceed those of other industrialized societies.

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