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242. NGOs, International Donors, and the Postmaterial Disjuncture in Latin America
- Author:
- Samuel Handlin
- Publication Date:
- 08-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- NGOs have proliferated in the developing world, assuming key political roles as intermediary organizations representing public in- terests. Yet at least in the three Latin American countries examined here, the proportion of the NGO sector focused on postmaterial issues mas- sively outpaces the proportion of the mass public that considers these issues highly salient. This article demonstrates this “postmaterial disjunc- ture” and theorizes that international donors help drive it by favoring NGOs that pursue postmaterial issues. This hypothesis is evaluated by analyzing a unique dataset containing information on over 700 NGOs. Organizations pursuing postmaterial issues are more than three times likely to receive international funding than are otherwise identical NGOs pursuing material issues. While international donors may be well inten- tioned, their postmaterial agendas shape the issue orientation of the NGO sector, resulting in potentially adverse consequences for its ability to effectively represent mass interests.
- Topic:
- Foreign Aid, NGOs, and Donors
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and North America
243. News Media Consumption and Political Behavior in Latin America
- Author:
- Ryan Salzman
- Publication Date:
- 08-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- News media are an important factor in any democratic society. Research focused on developed democracies has paved the way for anal- ysis in the context of less well-developed democracies. The project en- deavors to continue that investigation into whether and how news media consumption affects democratic behavior among individuals in a region comprised of developing democracies: Latin America. Employing rich survey data available from the 2008 Latin American Public Opinion Project, traditional analyses are used to test one of the most basic ques- tions for political communication researchers: Does news media con- sumption motivate or depress political participation? The results indicate that, on average, news media mobilize political participation, albeit to different degrees per medium and participation type. This seems to hap- pen because those media socialize Latin Americans to value political participation.
- Topic:
- Mass Media, Elections, Democracy, Media, and Participation
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and North America
244. Low-Level Corruption Tolerance: An “Action-Based” Approach for Peru and Latin America
- Author:
- Joseph Pozsgai Alvarez
- Publication Date:
- 08-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- Since the beginning of the past decade, the tolerance of cor- ruption by citizens of most Latin American countries has become a con- cept in its own right within the broader study of corruption. This con- struct, however, lacks a systematic approach and is yet to account for specific types of corruption tolerance or identify appropriate indicators to measure them. The present study addresses these voids by analyzing data provided by LAPOP’s AmericasBarometer 2006 for Peru (a typical case for the incidence of bribery in Latin America) and the Global Cor- ruption Barometer against a carefully constructed framework for the understanding of the phenomenon of corruption tolerance. The results indicate that attitudes toward specific types of low-level corruption should not be equated to citizens’ decisions to engage in such behavior. They further suggest that the study of corruption tolerance has the po- tential to greatly improve our understanding of the determinants of cor- ruption in developing countries.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Developing World, and Accountability
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and Peru
245. 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
246. Contentious Engagement: Understanding Protest Participation in Latin American Democracies
- Author:
- Mason W. Moseley
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- Why has protest participation seemingly exploded across much of Latin America in recent years? How do individual- and country- level characteristics interact to explain the rise of contentious politics in countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela? I contend that the recent wave of protests in Latin America is the result of trends in community engagement and institutional development across the region’s young democracies. Specifically, I argue that low-quality institutions in demo- cratic regimes push an increasingly large number of civically active Latin Americans toward more radical modes of political participation, as gov- ernments’ abilities to deliver on citizens’ expectations fail to match the capacity for mobilization of active democrats. Drawing on cross-national surveys of Latin America, I test this argument, finding that an interactive relationship between community engagement and ineffective political institutions helps explain the recent spike in protest activity in certain cases and the vast differences in protest participation observed through- out the region.
- Topic:
- Social Movement, Democracy, Protests, and Participation
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and North America
247. Democracy and Student Discontent: Chilean Student Protest in the Post- Pinochet Era
- Author:
- Peter M.M. Cummings
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- Objective indicators suggest that economic and political con- ditions improved in Chile between the country’s democratization in 1990 and 2011. Average incomes increased, poverty rates decreased, and the number of positive reviews of Chilean democratic institutions rose. De- spite this progress, massive student-led protest waves in 2006 and 2011 demonstrated high levels of subjective discontent in Chile. This paper proposes a three-part explanation for the paradoxical emergence and escalation of the post-Pinochet-era Chilean student protests, and, in so doing, contributes to the broader understanding of social movements and political action. The first two parts of the argument relate to genera- tional change. Firstly, a gap between expectations and capabilities pro- voked discontent amongst a new generation of Chilean students. Sec- ondly, the new generation’s collective identity as “la generación sin miedo” (the fearless generation) motivated the students to turn discontent into political action. Thirdly, government and student actor agency influenced the variance in protest strength between 2005 and 2011.
- Topic:
- Democracy, Protests, State Building, and Students
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and Chile
248. Preferences on Redistribution in Fragmented Labor Markets in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Author:
- Sarah Berens
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- This study investigates the extent to which labor market duali- zation polarizes preferences on redistribution between formal and in- formal sector workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Differences in welfare state costs and benefits for these labor market groups are likely to fuel diverging incentives regarding welfare consumption. The article tests whether or not informal workers are driven mainly by eco- nomic self-interest to increase gains from public welfare goods. The study employed a hierarchical model on pooled survey data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) 2008 and 2010 to analyze the risk exposure of formal and informal workers and, subse- quently, their preferences on redistribution. The analysis reveals that while economic self-interest is an influential factor for formal workers, it is (unexpectedly) much less so for informal workers. Also, an increased economically insecure environment, reflected by high unemployment rates, does not motivate informal workers to an exceptional degree to turn towards the state for redistribution, despite greater exposure to economic risk. Labor market dualization does not translate into polariza- tion at the individual level regarding redistributive preferences in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Topic:
- Inequality, Welfare, Labor Market, and Redistribution
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, Caribbean, and North America
249. Humanitarianism and the Global Favela: Urban Violence and Humanitarian Action in Rio de Janeiro | Travail humanitaire et favela globale : la violence urbaine et l’action humanitaire à Rio de Janeiro
- Author:
- Carolina Moulin Aguiar and Jana Tabak
- Publication Date:
- 03-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Institution:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Abstract:
- The paper aims at investigating the dilemmas involved in the recent turn of international humanitarian organizations to urban areas of the Global South. The incorporation of impoverished urban communities—such as Rio de Janeiro’s favelas—in the landscape of humanitarian action results from a particular reading that connects urbanization processes with a redefinition of the scope of humanitarian action. The paper argues that the transposition of humanitarian protection and assistance to other situations of violence, such as Rio’s favelas, is premised on the construction of slums as marginal sites of insecurity and as the epitome of all problems related to urban processes in developing and underdeveloped societies. Based on a review of Médecins sans frontières’ project in Complexo do Alemão - Rio de Janeiro, from 2007 to 2009, the paper concludes with a critical reading of the consequences of recognizing favelas (and the global slum) as a problem of security and protection, without acknowledging the complex democratic dimensions of local political struggles.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, Urbanization, and Slums
- Political Geography:
- Brazil and South America