Brazil is on Edge: The Two Most Important Civil Society Groups in the Brazilian Presidential Election by Dr Valesca Lima What Happened in the Brazilian Election The world's eyes are on Brazil now, as South America's largest democracy went into a polarized general election on October 1. After an election campaign marked by strong speeches and... Continue Reading →
Latin America’s Pendulum by María Isabel Puerta Riera María is a Political Scientist teaching U. S. Government in Florida. Interested in U. S. and Latin American Politics. Latin America’s Pendulum Over the past decade Latin America has faced significant challenges to governance from critical episodes that have led to the impeachment of Brazil's president to the incarceration of a former... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! Order Dan Slater and Joseph Wong's From Development to Democracy: The Transformations of Modern Asia. Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. Chile and its Constitution On Sunday, Chile rejected a proposed constitution after three years of protests, negotiating, and hard work from those involved. Nonetheless, it lost in an overwhelming vote... Continue Reading →
Laura Gamboa is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah. She is the author of the forthcoming book Resisting Backsliding: Opposition Strategies against the Erosion of Democracy. Become a Patron! Preorder Laura Gamboa's new book Resisting Backsliding: Opposition Strategies against the Erosion of Democracy here. There's always another set of elections.... Continue Reading →
Scott Mainwaring is the Eugene P. and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, where he previously served as director for 13 years and is a current Advisory Board member. He is the coeditor (with Tarek Masoud)... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! Colombia's Presidential Election Yesterday Gustavo Petro won Colombia's presidential election. Many journalists and commentators have already written extensively about the electoral campaign. Perhaps the most common narrative is Gustavo Petro as Columbia's first leftist president. For readers in the United States or Europe this may come across as surprising. However, Colombia's leftwing... Continue Reading →
Caitlin Andrews-Lee is an Assistant Professor in Ryerson University’s Department of Politics and Public Administration. She is the author of the book, The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo. Charismatic leaders who are intent on governing solely using their charismatic authority and subverting other things to their personal power... Continue Reading →
Charismatic Movements Last week’s focus on democratic backsliding incorporated many different themes from polarization to personalist leaders. This week’s focus narrows its scope to discuss charismatic leaders and their movements. The emergence of a charismatic leader often brings about democratic erosion. However, many of us struggle to understand why people so easily fall under the... Continue Reading →
Daniel Brinks joins the podcast to discuss his new book The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America. He is the coeditor along with Steven Levitsky and María Victoria Murillo. Dan is a professor of Government and of Law at the University of Texas at Austin and a Senior Researcher & Global Scholar of the Centre... Continue Reading →
What is Institutional Weakness? Over the past few years political science has woken up to the importance of state capacity in the construction of stable governments. Unfortunately, scholars have not paid the same level of attention to the strength of institutions. It’s easy to take for granted that improvements in state capacity will naturally... Continue Reading →
