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1. How Sustainable is Democratic Innovation? Tracking Neighborhood Councils in Montevideo

Author:
Uwe Serdult and Yanina Welp
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Focusing on the relatively longstanding experience of neigh- borhood councils in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo (1993–), this research note seeks to analyze how sustainable democratic innovation is and to explain subsequent results. Sustainability is assessed through the evolution of citizens’ participation in elections and through the number of candidates who apply to become neighborhood councilors. For both indicators, a consistent decline in the levels of participation over time is found. This is deemed to be a consequence of an institutional design that seriously limits the performance of neighborhood councils in terms of their influence in the decision-making process and their acquisition of legitimacy and political capital.
Topic:
Elections, Democracy, Citizenship, Legitimacy, and Local
Political Geography:
South America, Uruguay, and Latin America

2. Modeling Electoral Coordination: Voters, Parties and Legislative Lists in Uruguay

Author:
Ines Levin and Gabriel Katz
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
During each electoral period, the strategic interaction between voters and political elites determines the number of viable candidates in a district. In this paper, we implement a hierarchical seemingly unrelated regression model to explain electoral coordination at the district level in Uruguay as a function of district magnitude, previous electoral outcomes and electoral regime. Elections in this country are particularly useful to test for institutional effects on the coordination process due to the large variations in district magnitude, to the simultaneity of presidential and legislative races held under different rules, and to the reforms implemented during the period under consideration. We find that district magnitude and electoral history heuristics have substantial effects on the number of competing and voted-for parties and lists. Our modeling approach uncovers important interaction-effects between the demand and supply side of the political market that were often overlooked in previous research.
Political Geography:
Uruguay

3. The Media Activism of Latin America's Leftist Governments: Does Ideology Matter

Author:
Philip Kitzberger
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Has Latin America's left turn mattered in media politics? Does ideology impact governments' practices and policies regarding media and journalistic institutions? Through an empirical assessment of discourses on the media, of direct-communication practices, and of media regulation policies on the part of the recent leftist governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela, this paper stresses the existence of a specific media activism on the part of leftist governments in Latin America. While showing that the current binary distinctions that stress the existence of two lefts—“populist” and “nonpopulist”—obscure important commonalities and continuities, the author also demonstrates that it is the existence of certain institutional and structural constraints that best accounts for the differences among the various leftist governments in Latin America. In sum, the paper challenges the prevailing neglect of ideology as a relevant factor in explaining developments in government–media relationships in the region.
Topic:
Politics and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Latin America, Venezuela, Chile, and Ecuador

4. ¿Hacia una comunidad regional de seguridad? Las Fuerzas Armadas en la percepción de las elites parlamentarias en Argentina, Chile, Brasil, Uruguay y Paraguay

Author:
Ruth Fuchs
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
El presente trabajo analiza, desde una perspectiva comparada, las percepciones de las elites parlamentarias de los países miembros del MERCOSUR respecto a las Fuerzas Armadas y a cuestiones de seguridad y defensa. Ante la creciente cooperación en materia de seguridad, se indaga en el plano de los valores y convicciones de las elites políticas para buscar indicios relacionados con el desarrollo de una comunidad regional de seguridad en el sur de América Latina. A partir de los resultados de dos proyectos de investigación empírica sobre los sectores parlamentarios, el artículo identifica semejanzas y discrepancias entre las percepciones de los diputados y senadores de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay, y discute las posibles consecuencias con miras a una profundización de la cooperación en materia de seguridad.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Government
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Latin America, Chile, and Paraguay