Between legitimacy and efficacy: reform in presidential election systems in Latin America

Increasingly alone as a stable republican nation in Latin America, Chile has long been a favorite subject for North American scholars and journalists. Every six years, as it faces a presidential election, the world press breathlessly rediscovers that this long slim country confronts its public problems within the framework of a developed, democratic political system. When in 1964 Chile placed a young idealistic party in power behind Eduardo Frei, an unquestionably intelligent figure of austere but charismatic bearing, this country became a favorite model for the advocates of democratic reformism in Latin America and soon was receiving the highest United States foreign aid per capita in Latin America. Thus it came as a shock that the Chilean electorate could turn its back on Frei's administration in 1970 by favoring the rightist and Marxist candidates. For those who saw in the government of Frei a basic alternative to Marxist models for Latin America, the free election of an avowed Marxist as the President of Chile presents additional problems.

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US poll security will likely still be issue in 2020

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db244937 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Content Type ◽

Public Pressure ◽

Election Results ◽

Election Systems ◽

Media Firms

Significance The bill will move to the Senate, where Republicans fear it over-reaches into states’ powers to manage elections. The standoff takes place within the context of the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, in which Russians interfered via informational techniques and social media. The bill is designed to prevent another such occurrence, but the ability for actors to manipulate election results is more far-reaching than the methods addressed in this bill. Impacts The bill would authorise federal money annually to improve and maintain states’ election systems. Social media firms will face more government and public pressure to prevent foreign election interference via their platforms. Social media firms will find it difficult to police their platforms without increasing editorial control.

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Remittances growth in Latin America will slow in 2017

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db221492 ◽

2017 ◽

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Construction Sector ◽

Content Type ◽

The Us ◽

The World ◽

Us Presidential Election ◽

The Caribbean

Subject The outlook for remittance inflows. Significance Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was the only region in the world that registered an increase in family remittances last year. Impacts The rise in 'extra' remittances after last year's US presidential election will not be repeated this year. The taxing of remittances could partially reverse many years of efforts to lower sending costs. Increased employment in the US construction sector could help sustain remittances to LAC.

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A Democratic Party Approach to Latin America

Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs ◽

10.2307/166026 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Ambler H. Moss

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Latin American ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Democratic Party ◽

Democratic Administration ◽

American Policy ◽

Consistent Basis

As in most presidential election years, Latin America is not significant in the campaign issues presently under discussion, nor is it likely to become so before November 1992. This article focuses, therefore, not so much upon which issues might, or even should, be emphasized by the Democratic Party during the campaign, as upon what might be the design of a Latin American policy by a new Democratic administration in January 1993. Start, then, by assuming a Democratic victory in November.It would be reasonable to predict that Latin America will get more attention, of a different nature and on a more consistent basis, than it has during the Reagan-Bush years. The Democrats have had the affiliation of the greater number of this country's Latin Americanists, and their weight will be felt. They will want, demand, and probably get, some serious input.

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Conclusion and the Future of Presidential-Election Rules

10.1093/oso/9780190879754.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Cynthia McClintock

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Latin America ◽

Presidential Election ◽

The United States ◽

Electoral Rules ◽

New Parties ◽

Political Exclusion ◽

Dominant Parties ◽

Number Of Parties ◽

Legislative Election

Runoff has been advantageous in Latin America and could be in the United States also. Amid the legitimacy deficits of the 2000 and 2016 elections in the United States, popular demand for change in electoral rules is strong. Although ranked-choice voting is the most common innovation in the United States, it is complex and relatively untested. By contrast, runoff has been tested in Latin America and shown to be successful. Runoff opened the electoral arena to new parties but, at the same time, assured that the president had majority support and was not at an ideological extreme. By contrast, plurality often facilitated political exclusion by dominant parties and exacerbated cynicism and polarization. Although the number of parties was larger under runoff, the concomitant problems can be ameliorated by such measures as the scheduling of the legislative election after the first round and raising the threshold for entry to the legislature.

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Prospects for the Andean region in 2017

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db214738 ◽

2016 ◽

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Foreign Investment ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Extractive Industries ◽

Andean Region ◽

Content Type

Subject Prospects for the Andean region in 2017. Significance The Andean region (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) is set for another year of sluggish growth, although this may still compare favourably with other parts of Latin America. Foreign investment, reduced by the problems facing extractive industries, will be slow to pick up. Ecuador is the only country that will face a presidential election, while pre-election manoeuvring will characterise Colombian politics in advance of the 2018 poll.

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Policy-based Abstention: An Application to Brazil’s 2002 Presidential Election

Review of European Studies ◽

10.5539/res.v10n3p28 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 28

Author(s):

Gabriel Katz

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Unified Model ◽

Electoral Behavior ◽

Vote Choice ◽

Structural Factors ◽

Short Term ◽

Perceived Efficacy ◽

Voter Abstention

This paper implements a unified model of individual abstention and vote choice, applying it to analyze policy-based alienation and indiﬀerence in Brazil’s historical 2002 presidential election. The results indicate that both alienation and indiﬀerence have a negative impact on turnout, with indiﬀerence contributing slightly more to voter abstention. Also, the determinants of alienation and indiﬀerence diﬀer considerably, the former being determined by structural factors such as voters’ information and perceived eﬃcacy levels, while the latter was related to short-term aspects such as parties’ mobilization eﬀorts. More importantly, the evidence shows that while alienation and indiﬀerence are strongly influenced by attitudinal and protest variables, they are also aﬀected by citizens’ evaluation of candidates’ ideological locations. The main conclusion is that abstention in Brazil’s 2002 election had a policy-driven component and that spatial considerations played a substantive role in citizens’ electoral behavior, a fact that has been largely overlooked in previous research on the determinants of abstention in Latin America.

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The Political Origins of Social Security in Mexico during the Cáárdenas and ÁÁvila Camacho Administrations

Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos ◽

10.1525/msem.2005.21.1.59 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 59-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Michelle Dion

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Social Security ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Social Insurance ◽

Organized Labor ◽

The Political ◽

Adoption And Implementation ◽

Presidential Succession ◽

The Welfare State ◽

Political Origins

This study compares efforts to adopt social insurance legislation in the administrations of Láázaro Cáárdenas and Manuel ÁÁvila Camacho in Mexico to explain the political origins of the welfare state in Latin America. The author argues that the adoption and implementation of social insurance in Mexico was the outcome of an implicit bargain between organized labor and the state following the 1940 presidential election. This bargain signifies the rebuilding by the ÁÁvila Camacho administration of the cross-class coalition originally designed by President Cáárdenas and jeopardized by the nationalization of petroleum and presidential succession struggles of the late 1930s. Este trabajo compara esfuerzos a implantar legislacióón del seguro social en las administraciones de Láázaro Cáárdenas y de Manuel ÁÁvila Camacho en Mééxico para explicar los oríígenes polííticos del Estado de bienestar en Améérica Latina. La autora discute que la adopcióón y la implantacióón del seguro social en Mééxico fueron resultados de un negocio implíícito entre la clase trabajadora organizada y el Estado que seguíía la eleccióón presidencial de 1940. Este negocio significa la reconstruccióón por la administracióón de ÁÁvila Camacho de la coalicióón de clases diseññada por presidente Cáárdenas y comprometida originalmente por la nacionalizacióón del petróóleo y de las luchas de la sucesióón presidencial de los finales de los 30s.

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