2 options
Political careers, corruption, and impunity : Panama's assembly, 1984-2009 / Carlos Guevara Mann.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Guevara Mann, Carlos.
- Series:
- Recent titles from the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
- Recent titles from the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Legislative bodies--Panama--History.
- Legislative bodies.
- Legislators--Panama--History.
- Legislators.
- Political corruption--Panama.
- Political corruption.
- Representative government and representation--Panama.
- Representative government and representation.
- Panama--Politics and government--1981-.
- Panama.
- Panama. Asamblea Legislativa.
- Physical Description:
- xvii, 453 p.
- Place of Publication:
- Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, c2011.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- In Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity: Panama's Assembly, 1984-2009, Carlos Guevara Mann systematically examines the behavior of the members of Panama's Legislative Assembly between 1984 and 2009, an arena previously unexplored in studies of Panamanian politics. He challenges fundamental aspects of scholarly literature on democratic legislatures, with important consequences for understanding democratic politics in Latin America and other parts of the world. The current literature on legislatures assumes that legislators single-mindedly seek reelection or the advancement of their political careers, and that they pursue these goals through acceptable democratic means. Guevara Mann shows, however, that in Panama many legislators also pursue less laudable goals such as personal enrichment and freedom from prosecution, often reaching their goals through means-widespread clientelism, party switching, and electoral manipulation-that undermine the quality of democracy. On one level, Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity contrasts the political behavior of individual legislators; on another, it compares the actions of legislators under various regimes-military and constitutional. Lastly, it engages in cross-national comparisons that contrast the behavior of Panamanian legislators with actions of representatives elsewhere. Guevara Mann's sophisticated analysis of the military period and the transition to democracy, with an emphasis on the history and functioning of legislative bodies, contains a wealth of new information about a neglected but intrinsically fascinating case.
- Contents:
- Political representation and representative assemblies
- The party system: parties and actors in Panama's assembly
- Formal institutional incentives to behavior
- Informal institutions and assembly members' behavior
- Political advancement through reelection: prospects and possibilities in Panama
- Political advancement through reelection: the legal and illegal uses of patronage
- Political advancement through reelection: party switching and electoral manipulation
- Personal enrichment through legal means: assembly members' wages in comparative perspective
- Personal enrichment through legal means: expanding emoluments and privileges
- Personal enrichment through illegal means
- Preserving immunity through reelection.
- Notes:
- "Recent titles from the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies".
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780268080679
- 0268080674
- OCLC:
- 793012614
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.