Diasporas' Political Rights and the Heterogeneous, Non-linear Unfolding of External Citizenship in Latin America

2022 ◽  
pp. 200-213
Author(s):  
Ana Margheritis
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Non Linear

Reflections on Contemporary South American Democracies

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
GUILLERMO O'DONNELL
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
South America ◽  
National Level ◽  
South American ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Opinion Expression ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Indefinite Future

The occasion of honouring the memory of John Brooks, a great friend of Latin America, has helped me vanquish my initial reluctance to tackle a topic that is as broad, varied and still open-ended as the present situation of democracy in South America. As a first measure of my limitations, with the exception of some references to Costa Rica and Mexico, I will not discuss Central America and the Caribbean, not because I feel these regions are unimportant but because, simply, I do not know enough about them. However, when I feel that I am on sufficiently solid ground so as to refer to Latin America as a whole, I will do so.I begin by noting that in contemporary South America some countries satisfy the definition of political democracy. Those countries share two main characteristics. One is that they hold elections under universal adult franchise that, at least at the national level, are reasonably fair and competitive. These are standard criteria in the political science literature. However, having in mind the experience of Latin America and elsewhere in the third world, I believe that we should add that such elections must be institutionalised. By this I mean that all relevant actors expect that elections of this kind will continue being held in the indefinite future so, whether they like or not, it is rational for them to play democracy, not coup-making or insurrection. We should also stipulate that these elections are decisive, in the sense that those who are elected do occupy the respective offices and end their terms in the constitutionally prescribed way; they are not, as it has happened too often in Latin America, prevented from occupying office or thrown out of it because some supra-constitutional power feels that they are the ‘wrong people’.The second characteristic is the enjoyment of certain political rights, especially of opinion, expression, association, movement and access to a reasonably free and pluralist media. Of course, these and other rights are important per se; in addition, they are instrumental – necessary conditions – for the effectuation of the kind of elections I have just specified.

Social-reformist Experiments in Latin America during the Cold War

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-105
Author(s):  
Ruslan Kostiuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Socialist Movement ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Left Movement ◽  
Latin American Countries

The article is devoted to the consideration and analysis of the practical policy of Latin American national reformism and social reformism during the Cold War. The author shows that the political and ideological gamut of the non-communist left movement in Latin America in the bipolar period was very wide. Specifically in this scientific article, the author refers to examples of the exercise of power by different directions of the socialist movement in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Peru, Chile. The author shows the existing connections between Latin American national reformism and the Socialist International and at that time comes to the conclusion that the ideology and practice of Latin American social democracy during the Cold War had a special, specific character. The common features characteristics of both the ideological project and the practical policy of the social reformist forces in the period under review were a commitment to political transformations, the expansion of social and political rights of citizens, the strengthening of the state and public sector in the economy, the priority of social policy, an anti-oligarchic strategy, a focus on a fair agrarian reform, anti-imperialism and the desire to defend national independence in foreign policy. In some cases (Nicaragua, Panama, Chile), the nature of social-economic transformations went beyond the framework of classical social reformism and had a revolutionary democratic content. The results of the center-left experiments in Latin American countries during the Cold War have varied, but by the 1990s most of them had failed. This is largely due to the fact that in the specific historical conditions of Latin American countries, national reformism in power led to the development of authoritarian and personalist tendencies, an increase in corruption and bureaucracy, attempts to merge the party and state apparatus.

scholarly journals Reconocimiento de la titularidad y el ejercicio de los derechos civiles y políticos de los residentes latinoamericanos en España : el derecho al sufragio en elecciones locales

2014 ◽  
pp. 687
Author(s):  
Yolanda Carmela Vaccaro Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Dual Nationality ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time

Los ciudadanos latinoamericanos que residen en España disfrutan de un marco legal diferenciado respecto de lo que atañe a los residentes procedentes de otras zonas en el marco de los lazos históricos y culturales que unen España y Latinoamérica reflejados en la legislación española. España mantiene suscritos convenios de Doble Nacionalidad con la mayor parte de países latinoamericanos. Y, desde 2009, ha suscrito tratados de reciprocidad en materia de sufragio en elecciones locales con diferentes países, la mayor parte de ellos latinoamericanos, tratados que permitieron que en las elecciones locales celebradas en España el 22 de mayo de 2011 los latinoamericanos concernidos pudieran ejercer el derecho al voto activo en España por primera vez sin necesidad de haberse acogido a los mencionados convenios de Doble Nacionalidad. La encuesta «Ciudadanía inmigrante», analizada en este artículo y realizada para la tesis doctoral «Derechos civiles y políticos de los residentes latinoamericanos en España. El derecho de sufragio», de la doctoranda autora de este artículo, da pautas sobre la percepción de los latinoamericanos residentes en España en torno a los derechos civiles y políticos y sobre su comportamiento respecto de los citados comicios de 2011.Latin American citizens residing in Spain enjoy a distinct legal framework compared to other foreign residents. That difference is based on the historical and cultural relations between Spain and Latin America. Spain has agreements on dual nationality with most Latin American countries. Starting in 2009 Spain has signed several reciprocity agreements about the right to vote in local elections with several countries, most of them in Latin America. On May 22, 2011 many Latin American citizens residing in Spain could exercise their right to vote in the Spanish local elections for the first time without having dual citizenship. The «Immigrant Citizenship» survey, analyzed in this article and developed for the doctoral thesis «Civil and Political Rights of Latin American Residents in Spain. The right to vote», provides guidance on the perception of Latin American living in Spain about civil and political rights and their behavior with respect to said elections.

The Hidden Face of Violence in Latin America: Assessing the Criminalization of Protest in Comparative Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 183-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Christine Doran
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
State Response ◽  
Abusive Behavior ◽  
Derechos Humanos ◽  
America Latina ◽  
Latin American Countries

The criminalization of social movements and protest remains underanalyzed as a problem intrinsic to democracy. Comparison of two seemingly different Latin American countries with regard to the degree of violence, Chile and Mexico, suggests that, far from being caused by the dysfunction of the legal system or other institutional factors, criminalization is a specific form of retrenching on well-established civil and political rights, rendering them synonymous with criminal behavior that must be sanctioned legally, and tolerates abusive behavior by state agents toward human rights defenders, who are viewed as enemies. As such, it is key to an understanding of the current violence in Latin America. Fieldwork and interviews of human rights defenders in the two countries suggest that criminalization of collective action is a systemic state response to the intense multifaceted mobilization in favor of democracy and new generations of rights that Latin America has been experiencing “from below” during the past decade. La criminalización de los movimientos y protestas sociales sigue siendo un problema intrínseco a la democracia pero es poco analizado como tal. Una comparación del grado de violencia en dos países latinoamericanos, Chile y México, sugiere que, lejos de ser el producto del sistema legal u otros factores institucionales, la criminalización es una forma específica de reducir derechos civiles y políticos bien establecidos y convertirlos en sinónimo de comportamiento criminal que debe ser sancionado legalmente. Dicho proceso tolera el comportamiento abusivo por parte de agentes del estado hacia defensores de los derechos humanos, quienes aparecen como enemigos. Esto es crucial para entender la actual violencia en América Latina. La criminalización de la acción colectiva es una respuesta estatal sistémica a una intensa y multifacética movilización de grupos de base a favor de la democracia y nuevos derechos en esta última década.

Dual Citizenship as a Strategy of Global Upward Mobility

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-38
Author(s):  
Yossi Harpaz
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Upward Mobility ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Global Inequality ◽  
Dual Citizenship ◽  
International Borders ◽  
Deliberate Strategy

This chapter presents an approach that posits that global inequality in citizenship value is the main factor that shapes the acquisition and use of dual citizenship. The world's citizenships are not equal. Some citizenships provide access to a secure and prosperous territory; guarantee extensive social and political rights; and come with a prestigious, high-mobility passport. On the other end of the spectrum, some citizenships are practically worthless in terms of economic access, social welfare, and political rights—and, moreover, mark their bearer as an automatic suspect when trying to cross international borders. The chapter then describes a model of the global citizenship hierarchy. Within this hierarchy, citizenship from Western or EU countries provides the highest level of rights, opportunities, and travel freedom. Once dual citizenship became available, millions of individuals from middle-tier nations in Latin America and Eastern Europe drew on their ancestry or ethnicity to obtain EU citizenship. For those individuals, compensatory citizenship is a deliberate strategy of upward mobility in the global hierarchy.

Latin America and COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-68
Author(s):  
Brigitte Weiffen
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Presidential Leadership ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Economic Distress ◽  
Political Unrest

Latin America was hit by COVID-19 in a moment of (socio-)economic distress and political unrest. This essay reflects on the immediate repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis for democracy in the region. It expounds how responding to the pandemic put to the test the still consolidating democracies with their long-standing defects in the areas of political and civil rights and horizontal accountability. In the course of coping with the crisis, it is precisely in these problem areas that additional risks for democracy have arisen due to infringements of political rights and the performance of presidents. Regarding the latter, the ambiguities of presidential leadership become particularly evident when comparing pragmatic and populist responses to the crisis.

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