This text provides a comparative look at corruption within Latin America. Through case study topics, the levels of corruption, how democratic rule is affected, how it contributes to poverty and inequality, and the level of citizen reaction are all discussed. The authors also seek to provide the basic tools needed to understand this emerging subfield and to incorporate a basic knowledge of corruption into a broader understanding of Lain American politics.
This book is the newest and one of the very few existing examinations of the full nature of corruption throughout Central and South America. In detailed chapters written by experts with extensive in-country experience, it reveals the political and economic roots and consequences of corruption in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru. The editor’s introduction and conclusion texts synthesize their work and provides an over-arching view of corrupt practices and anti-corruption initiatives throughout Latin America. Corruption in Latin America shows the extent to which corrupt practices engulf each of the countries discussed, the involvement of political and corporate entities in the pursuit of ill-gotten gains, and the drag on development caused by corruption in each political entity. The book will be of interest for social scientists, political actors and social activists involved in the fight against corruption in Latin America by providing in-depth analyses of the topic and discussing how best to pursue anti-corruption efforts through civil society actions, judicial endeavors, legal shifts, or elections.
This book investigates the history, development, and current state of anti-corruption agencies in Latin America. In recent decades, specialized anti-corruption agencies have sprung up as countries seek to respond to corruption and to counter administrative and political challenges. However, the characteristics, resources, power, and performance of these agencies reflect the political and economic environment in which they operate. This book draws on a range of case studies from across Latin America, considering both national anti-corruption bodies and agencies created and administered by, or in close coordination with, international organizations. Together, these stories demonstrate the importance of the political will of reformers, the private interests of key actors, the organizational space of other agencies, the position of advocacy groups, and the level of support from the public at large. This book will be a key resource for researchers across political science, corruption studies, development, and Latin American Studies. It will also be a valuable guide for policy makers and professionals in NGOs and international organizations working on anti-corruption advocacy and policy advice.
Reports of scandal and corruption have led to the downfall of numerous political leaders in Latin America in recent years. What conditions have developed that allow for the exposure of wrongdoing and the accountability of leaders? Enforcing the Rule of Law examines how elected officials in Latin American democracies have come under scrutiny from new forms of political control, and how these social accountability mechanisms have been successful in counteracting corruption and the limitations of established institutions. This volume reveals how legal claims, media interventions, civic organizations, citizen committees, electoral observation panels, and other watchdog groups have become effective tools for monitoring political authorities. Their actions have been instrumental in exposing government crime, bringing new issues to the public agenda, and influencing or even reversing policy decisions. Enforcing the Rule of Law presents compelling accounts of the emergence of civic action movements and their increasing political influence in Latin America, and sheds new light on the state of democracy in the region.
"Corruption and the Lava Jato Scandal in Latin America brings together key international and interdisciplinary perspectives to shine new light on Lava Jato, or Operation Car Wash, Latin America's largest corruption scandal to date. Since 2014, this scandal has unfolded in surprising ways to expose collusion between construction companies and state officials in Brazil and 11 other countries. The corruption uncovered amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes and billions of dollars in stolen state funds. The volume features evidence that the main construction company at the center of the scandal was apparently deliberate about seeking business in corrupt markets. It also evaluates the ambiguous role played by the media, whose members often relied uncritically on classified information released by the authorities. The volume further contributes to our understanding with studies on a number of other relevant topics, including: the overlap between corruption and the planning of the Rio Olympics; Mexico and Peru's contrasting responses to Lava Jato; the policy reforms needed to avoid a similar scandal in the future; and the roadmap for how Lava Jato should end. Across fifteen chapters by leading and emerging scholars and practitioners, this book engages with these issues from a balanced and unbiased perspective, including interviews with key stakeholders on both sides of the case. As one of the first book-length studies to deal with Lava Jato in the English language, this ground-breaking volume is a compelling reading for advanced students and researchers in areas including Corruption Studies, Public Ethics, Political Science and Latin American Studies, as well as for practitioners working to make governments more accountable"--
This title examines Mexican politics in the wake of Cardenismo, and the dawn of Miguel Aleman's presidency. This new book focuses on the decade of the 1940s, and analyzes Alcmanismo into the early years of the 1950s. Based upon a decade of intensive investigation, it is the first broad and substantial study of the political life of the Mexican nation during this period, thus opening a new era to historical investigation. Analytical yet lively, mixing political and cultural history, Mexico in the 1940s captures the humor, passion, and significance of Mexico during the World War II and post-war years when Mexicans entered the era called "the miracle" because of the nation's economic growth and political stability. Niblo develops the case that the Mexico of today -- politically and executively centralized, stressing business and industry, corrupt, ignoring the needs of the majority of the population -- has its roots in the decade and a half after 1940. Finally, Mexico in the 1940s offers a unique interpretation of Mexican domestic politics in this period, including an explanation of how political leaders were able to reverse the course of the Mexican Revolution in the 1940s; an original interpretation of corruption in Mexican political life, a phenomenon that did not end in the 1940s; and an analysis of the relationship between the U.S. media interests, the Mexican state and the Mexican media companies that still dominate mass communication today.
Analysts and policymakers often decry the failure of institutions to accomplish their stated purpose. Bringing together leading scholars of Latin American politics, this volume helps us understand why. The volume offers a conceptual and theoretical framework for studying weak institutions. It introduces different dimensions of institutional weakness and explores the origins and consequences of that weakness. Drawing on recent research on constitutional and electoral reform, executive-legislative relations, property rights, environmental and labor regulation, indigenous rights, squatters and street vendors, and anti-domestic violence laws in Latin America, the volume's chapters show us that politicians often design institutions that they cannot or do not want to enforce or comply with. Challenging existing theories of institutional design, the volume helps us understand the logic that drives the creation of weak institutions, as well as the conditions under which they may be transformed into institutions that matter.
