Holding Democracy Accountable in Latin America

Abstract

Democratic Accountability in Latin America. Edited by Scott Mainwaring, Christopher Welna. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 360 pp., $74.00 cloth (ISBN: 0-19-925637-3), $39.95 paper (ISBN: 0-19-925638-1). As Latin America entered the twenty-first century, democratic regimes existed alongside a range of deeply disturbing political and socioeconomic problems, from rampant corruption and widespread violence to wrenching inequalities. The “third wave” of democratization (Huntington 1991) swept away the military dictatorships that had marked the 1970s and 1980s, restoring elected civilian governments throughout Central and South America. However, the establishment and consolidation of democratic regimes remains a difficult and elusive challenge, mainly because of economic underdevelopment, poverty, and inequality. The fate of democracy depends heavily on issues of democratic accountability and on the prospects for deepening democracy in the face of such fundamental problems as state weakness, the ineffective rule of law, and socioeconomic inequality. Any effort to understand democratic consolidation in Latin America must address the process of institution building, particularly regarding those institutions that sustain accountable government and nurture a strong democratic culture among the public and political elites. Democratic Accountability in Latin America addresses a key dimension of these institutions and a burning issue on the agenda of policymakers and citizens in contemporary Latin America: how to establish suitable mechanisms for challenging the exercise of authority. It also seeks to enrich our understanding of the meaning of accountability and the interaction between various mechanisms …