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Democracy in central and south america
Easy on Election system
Eassy;discuss electoral systems
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The two essays, Dilemmas of Democratization in Latin America, by Terry Karl, and Constitutional Choices for New Democracies, by Arend Lijphart, illustrate the ways in which a democratic government can be implemented in developing countries. Karl and Lijphart are in agreement over the definition of democracy, depicted by their focus on the electoral system as a vital component of a democratic government. However, Karl’s argument ultimately weakens Lijphart’s by rebuking the idea of implementing a procedural electoral system, promoting the significance of context and a “path dependent” approach when a country transitions into a democratic government. In both essays, the authors refer to the importance of an electoral system in a democratic …show more content…
Through his study, Lijphart arrives at a conclusion that a parliamentary, PR electoral system is the best form of government for ethnically diverse and economically underdeveloped countries, such as the countries in Latin America. His rationale for this argument is that parliamentary, PR systems allow for multiple parties to be involved in government, not just the majority. However, Karl contradicts Lijphart, arguing that it is not possible to create a procedure for implementing democracy in developing countries, because the type of democracy created is dependent upon structural and institutional constraints. The transition to democracy in Venezuela, the strongest democratic Latin American country, does well to convey this idea. The success of petroleum exchange causing the decline of landowning elites was a structural change, which allowed the country to create a democratic government without the opposition of the anti democratic elites. This “path dependent” approach is relatively contradictory to the argument of Lijphart, who suggests a direct implementation of a democratic government based on an existing electoral system. Lijphart’s argument neglects the contextual aspect of a developing country’s transition to a democratic government which Karl strongly supports, creating a disjunction between the two
“Latin America includes the entire continent of South America, as well as Mexico. Central America, and the Caribbean Islands. Physical geography has played an important role in the economic development of Latin America.” (Doc A and Doc G) Latin America has many unique cultural characteristics, industrial products, agricultural products, and human activity.
The author feels as if in the Electoral College that if electors were able to change the vote of the people living in the states that it does not seem to matter if someone were to voice their opinion or not, due to the outcome of how the elector of the state may take in order to cast their
In the twentieth century Latin America went through several political systems such as military dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. The transition to democracy involved national contexts,institutions, economic development, and that shaped the outcome (225). Although democracy is now more positive than how Latin American initially began, certain aspects of the state are not as democratized as others. In the general sense democracy is embedded in Latin American states and have accommodated democratic norms (250). Elections now function in a stable manner and governments easily rotate without dispute (250). Latin America is on the correct path to democratization however has not completely made the transition. There are still many issues
In Glenn Sanakatsing’s document “PEOPLE’S VOTE COMPATIBLE WITH PEOPLE’S FATE A democratic alternative to liberal democracy” he proposes an alternative to the current systems of liberal and social democracy. He proposes an alternative which is a representative democracy based on development theory. Development theory is collection of ideas about how desirable change in society is best achieved. He argues of the multiple failures of both liberal and social democracies. Both systems are based on delegation as a means of creating and directing national policies. The voter selects a delegate and that delegate through a top to down approach creates laws and policies which all citizens have to follow. He argues that the delegate main purpose in governing is to secure power for him/herself and survival for the political party. In most nations there are two types of political parties known as the right and the left. In the United States conservatives and liberals dominate the political spectrum and there is no room for other political principles such as libertariani...
Linze writes that “Presidentialism is ineluctably problematic because it operates according to the rule of "winner-take-all-arrangement” that tends to make democratic politics a zero-sum game” This causes some people to feel disenfranchised and that the President is not “their President” if the winner is not who they cast their vote for. Linze adds that parliamentary elections are more prone to give representations to a number of parties. Presidential election process leaves little room for consensus building and coalition
Who has the greater legitimacy to represent the people? The president or the legislatures. In comparing the Chilean 1970 Presidential Election to 1979 Spanish appointment of Adolfo Suirez as Prime Minister, Linz notes “Allende received a six-year mandate for controlling the government even with much less than a majority of the popular vote, while Suirez, with a plurality of roughly the same size, found it necessary to work with other parties to sustain a minority government”. Linz supports the fusion of the executive and legislative branches because it forces a sense of cooperation. He points out that “presidential systems may be more or less dependent on the cooperation of the legislature; the balance between executive and legislative power in such systems can thus vary considerably” Linz admits that “presidential elections do offer the indisputable advantage of allowing the people to choose their chief executive openly, directly, and for a predictable span rather than leaving that decision to the backstage maneuvering of the politicians.” but qualifies it by stating that it is only and beneficial if the majority of the people of spoken. In Scott Mainwaring and Matthew Shugart’s critical appraisal of “The Perils of Presidentialism” they offer counter arguments when they suggest that a bicameral parliament can just as easily have dual legitimacy issues as a President and legislative body. It should be recognized that Linz does not address the checks and balances that allows for a more regulated government ensuring that power is not concentrated in the hands of one group. Nor does he address that elections
Economic development is generally paired with democracy. Modernization theorists suggested that increasing education, equality, urbanization, and experience of working in factories and the weakening of traditional would result in citizens with more tolerant and participatory attitudes who would demand a say in government. These arguments served as the basis for democracy without specifying the process through whi...
Linz writes that “Presidentialism is ineluctably problematic because it operates according to the rule of "winner-take-all-arrangement” that tends to make democratic politics a zero-sum game” This causes some people to feel disenfranchised and that the President is not “their President” if the winner is not who they cast their vote for. Linz adds that parliamentary elections are more prone to give representations to a number of parties. Presidential election process leaves little room for consensus building and coalition
...uaranteed to create democratic stability, or even make better and more insightful decisions than their Presidential counterparts, but he does state the “vast majority of stable democracies in the world today are Parliamentary regimes” (Linz 1989, p.52). Using this hypostasis, I have constructed the essay in a way that hopefully shows the advantages of the imperfect systems’ of Parliamentarism over Presidentialism. Admittedly, mainly because of word count restrictions, the paper is not a comprehensive examination of the different democratic environments, and is very much open to debate, but by taking this approach of loosely contrasting Parliamentarism and Presidentialism, I have attempted to show the flexibility and inherent benefits of Parliamentarism. Which I feel ultimately affords a more pluralistic, policy balanced and stable approach to the democratic process.
Transitions to democracy have been explained in various ways. Modernization for instance, is one theoretical approach to explain why countries democratize. Additionally, social and cultural factors have also explained democratization, as well as, international factors. It becomes deductive to attribute democratization to any one single theory as modernization works with social and cultural factors that are also impacted by international factors. It appears as if they all contribute in one way or another. Wezel and Inglehart (2008) examine the effects of crucial social and cultural elements like self-expression that work with modernization in tandem to aid in democratization. Ross (2001) further illustrates this claim in his finding that oil hinders democracy. He concludes that modernization and economic development are not sufficient to assist democratization because they lack the social and cultural elements that allow citizens to have occupational specialization. Furthermore, Boix (2011) found that modernization and economic development lead to democratization, but only after the Cold War because the U.S. became a democratic powerhouse. Therefore there is no one theory that works across time and space but many theories working together in different situations that are appropriate for each country individually. Social and cultural theories coupled with modernization and international factors all explain transition to democratization.
Every country differs in their preference of political system to govern their countries. For democratic countries, two possible choices of governing are the presidential system and the parliamentary system. Since both the presidential and the parliamentary systems have their own strengths and weaknesses, many scholars have examined these two forms of government, and debate on which political system is more successful in governance. In this paper, I will first provide a detailed analysis of both the parliamentary and the presidential system. I will also evaluate each system’s strengths and weaknesses, addressing any differences as well as any commonalities. Finally, I will conclude by using historical examples to analyze and support the presidential system, which would be a more desirable system for a democratic government.
It is no secret that the modern civilized world is trying to build on the foundations of democracy. Democracy is the mode of the West, as well - the goal of the most developing countries of the East. Philippe Schmitter and Terry
Now days democracy has been establish in every Latin America country except Cuba, which is still a socialist state. It seemed that every other alternative form of government such as Marxism or Leninism has failed and been replaced by democracy. Furthermore it looks like people in Latin American really enjoy democracy and its’ benefits, as they also consider it to be the best form of government. After the failure of authoritarian leaders and the military intervene their lives, Latin American citizens wanted to change their system into a more fair and honest system, democracy. Democracy is usually defined as a system of honesty, equality, freedom of rights, though for Latin America countries it means gains, welfare and patronage. Latin American did not work the democratic system properly as it should be and different obstacles keep the system away from being consolidated. Democracy in Latin America still face serious problems in matters as grinding poverty, huge social gaps, corruption, drug dealing, inefficient governments and most importantly governments who promote and use military. The real question is why democracy actually failed even though democracy is what people want. Paraguay is a case of failure in transition democracy because of the corruption and other things that will be argued in this essay. Paraguay and Ecuador are considered to be the only countries that democratization did not achieve consolidation, in differ from Chilli and Central American.
Some would say that democracy has existed in Latin America for some time. As Harold E. Davis wrote in his article titled “Democracy in Latin America”, the people of Latin America are democratic but their democracy is expressed differently than other democratic countries. When people ask the question about democracy they tend to compare Latin America to the Unites States. There is a big difference in culture between the two and it is difficult to make a fair comparison. Davis believes that Latin America people express their democracy differently through their behavior and institutions. Democracy can exist in many different forms and you see all these different forms around the world. In Latin America there are diffe...
Since the initiation of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, securing democratic freedoms in developing countries has become a major global-political concern. As a result, various donor nations have implemented good governance conditionalities in their financial aid policies, emphasising the establishment of fair democratic elections in recipient countries. However, efforts to reinforce legitimate democratic governments in developing states have been largely unsuccessful. In the book Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places, economist Paul Collier examines how the international community’s obsession with democracy and elections has hindered the developmental process in what he has termed as the bottom billion countries. By employing economic methods of analysis, Collier demonstrates how current international development polices have exacerbated rather than diminished existing issues impeding reconstruction efforts in low-income states. In order to help remedy the harmful effects of these policies, Collier proposes several innovative solutions he believes would better support political and economic development in bottom billion countries. However, Wars, Guns, and Votes is not without its limitations. Although Collier offers a new economic perspective to topics previously dominated by other social sciences, he fails to define key concepts relevant to his argument. Furthermore, Collier’s writing style is extremely convoluted. Therefore, one can see that although Wars, Guns, and Votes provides a new economic based approach to development, the book is limited in terms of comprehensiveness and accessibility.