Overview

This volume analyzes the function of informal institutions in Latin America and how they support or weaken democratic governance. Drawing from a wide range of examples-including the Mexican dedazo, clientelism in Brazil, legislative ""ghost coalitions"" in Ecuador, and elite power-sharing in Chile-the contributors examine how informal rules shape the performance of state and democratic institutions, offering fresh and timely insights into contemporary problems of governability, ""unrule of law,"" and the absence of effective representation, participation, and accountability in Latin America. The editors present this analysis within a fourfold conceptual framework: complementary institutions, which fill gaps in formal rules or enhance their efficacy; accommodative informal institutions, which blunt the effects of dysfunctional formal institutions; competing informal institutions, which directly subvert the formal rules; and substitutive informal institutions, which replace ineffective formal institutions.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gretchen Helmke (Assistant Professor, University of Rochester) ,  Steven Levitsky (John J. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University)
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.612kg
ISBN:  

9780801883514

ISBN 10:   0801883512
Pages:   368
Publication Date:   23 October 2006
Recommended Age:   From 13
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Preface Introduction Part I. The Informal Politics of Executive-Legislative Relations 1. Accommodating Informal Institutions and Chilean Democracy 2. How Informal Electoral Institutions Shape the Brazilian Legislative Arena 3. Crafting Legislative Ghost Coalitions in Ecuador: Informal Institutions and Economic Reform in an Unlikely Case Part II. Informal Institutions and Electoral Politics 4. Informal Institutions When Formal Contracting Is Prohibited: Campaign Finance in Brazil 5. The Difficult Road from Caudillismo to Democracy: The Impact of Clientelism in Honduras 6. Do Informal Rules Make Democracy Work? Accounting for Accountability in Argentina Part III. Informal Institutions and Party Politics 7. The Birth and Transformation of the Dedazo in Mexico 8. Election Insurance and Coalition Survival: Formal and Informal Institutions in Chile 9. Informal Institutions and Party Organization in Latin America Part IV. Informal Judicial Institutions and The Rule of Law 10. The Rule of (Non)Law: Prosecuting Police Killings in Brazil and Argentina 11. Mexico's Postelectoral Concertacasiones: The Rise and Demise of a Substitutive Informal Institution 12. Dispensing Justice at the Margins of Formality: The Informal Rule of Law in Latin America Conclusion Afterword: On Informal institutions, Once Again Notes References

Reviews

Rich in empirical material and in provoking theoretical questions. -- Julian Durazo Herrmann, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

<p>Rich in empirical material and in provoking theoretical questions.--Julian Durazo Herrmann European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (01/01/0001)

Author Information

Gretchen Helmke is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Rochester. Steven Levitsky is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University.

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