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21. Access To Information: A Key To Democracy

Author:
Laura Newman
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
Citizens and their leaders around the world have long recognized the risk of corruption. Corruption diverts scarce resources from necessary public services, and instead puts it in the pockets of politicians, middlemen and illicit contractors, while ensuring that the poor do not receive the benefits of this "system". The consequences of corruption globally have been clear: unequal access to public services and justice, reduced investor confidence, continued poverty, and even violence and overthrow of governments. A high level of corruption is a singularly pernicious societal problem that also undermines the rule of law and citizen confidence in democratic institutions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Government, Human Rights, and Politics
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, and North America

22. Transnational Organized Crime: The Caribbean Context

Author:
Anthony T. Bryan
Publication Date:
10-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Were it not for the illegitimate character of their actions, transnational criminals could be lauded as pioneers and visionaries in the age of globalization. They have adopted facilitative and exacting measures to remain competitive, fashioned an enviable organizational culture of efficiency and accountability, and maximized the opportunities provided by globalization. They have been able to innovate, expand, and flourish in a furiously changing international scenario and have done so while being relatively cloaked, so that there is an aura of mystery and ambiguity about their operations.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:
Caribbean

23. Global Economics and Local Politics in Trinidad's Divestment Program

Author:
Anthony P. Maingot
Publication Date:
12-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
This study focuses on the complex interaction between local political, social, and economic exigencies and the imperatives of the global economy in Trinidad. Local systems operate according to the perceived needs of their elites and the moral codes and biases of the political culture. In Trinidad, the dominant biases have to do with racial competition. For more than five decades, efforts have been made to use the state to extend economic rights to underprivileged Afro-Trinidadians. In the mid-1980s, however, a shift in macroeconomic thinking led to liberalization and a growing gap between the traditional nationalist/statist ideology and the actual decisions of political elites. This paper explores this unresolved incongruity through a case study of Petrotrin, the national petroleum company that oversees the fast-growing oil and gas sector.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Political Economy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Caribbean

24. Is the Third Wave of Democratization Over? An Empirical Assessment

Author:
Larry Diamond
Publication Date:
03-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the Portuguese military overthrew the Salazar/Caetano dictatorship in April of 1974, the number of democracies in the world has multiplied dramatically. Before the start of this global trend toward democracy, there were roughly 40 countries in the world that could be rated as more or less democratic. The number increased moderately through the late 1970s and early 1980s as a number of states experienced transitions from authoritarian (predominantly military) to democratic rule. But then, in the mid-1980s, the pace of global democratic expansion accelerated markedly, to the point where as of 1996 there were somewhere between 76 and 117 democracies, depending on how one counts. How one counts is crucial, however, to the task of this essay: thinking about whether democracy will continue to expand in the world, or even hold steady at its current level. In fact, it raises the most fundamental philosophical and political questions of what we mean by democracy.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Dictatorship
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, South America, Central America, Caribbean, and Portugal

25. Indigenous Politics and Democracy: Contesting Citizenship in Latin America

Author:
Deborah J. Yashar
Publication Date:
07-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Ethnic cleavages have rarely given rise to political organizing and sustained political conflict in Latin America. Over the past two decades, however, Latin America has witnessed a wave of rural organizing and movement building that mobilizes Indians as Indians to advance and defend self-proclaimed indigenous rights. This paper addresses why indigenous identity has become a more salient basis of political organizing and source of political claims in Latin America over the past two decades. After analyzing alternative theoretical approaches, the paper proposes a historically grounded comparative analysis that situates indigenous identity and movement formation in relation to the process of state building and the changing terms of citizenship. Drawing on social movement theory, the author suggests the conditions under which identity and organization have merged to generate indigenous movements in the region.
Topic:
Politics, Race, Democracy, Citizenship, Ethnicity, Indigenous, and Identity
Political Geography:
South America, Central America, and Caribbean

26. Ethnicity and Elections in The Caribbean: A Radical Realignment of Power in Trinidad and the Threat of Communal Strife

Author:
Ralph R. Premdas
Publication Date:
04-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The 1995 elections in the multiethnic Caribbean state, Trinidad and Tobago, were not an ordinary affair. They not only saw a change of regime but with it a change in the ethnic identity of the new political rulers. Control of the government by one ethnic party or the other poses a threat to the welfare of excluded and defeated parties. For many years one ethnic community controlled the government and entrenched its supporters at all levels of government as well as allocating most resources for the benefit of its own community. With the arrival of a new communally based party to power following the 1995 elections, vital interests are at stake. This paper examines how the change of government occurred through the electoral process.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, Elections, and Ethnicity
Political Geography:
Central America, Caribbean, and Trinidad and Tobago

27. Mission to Haiti #3

Author:
Robert A. Pastor
Publication Date:
03-1995
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
Independent candidates and representatives from 27 political parties contested more than 2,000 municipal and Parliamentary postions in elections in Haiti on June 25, 1995. In the pre-election period, the Provisional Election Council (CEP) judged the qualifications of nearly 12,000 candidates, and disqualified about one thousand without explanations. The process was so prolonged and contentious that the ballots had to be changed up to the last days, and there were numerous mistakes. The CEP's erratic performance led three parties to boycott the election, and virtually all to question the CEP's judgment and independence. The unresponsiveness of the CEP to legitimate complaints raised by the political parties sowed seeds of distrust in the electoral process.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
United Nations, Latin America, and Caribbean