Informal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from Latin America

ISBN-13: 9780801883521 / Angielski / Miękka / 2006 / 368 str.

Gretchen Helmke; Steven Levitsky

Opis

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.