Electoral rules and democracy in Latin America / Cynthia McClintock.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McClintock, Cynthia, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Elections--Latin America.

Elections.

Presidents--Latin America--Election.

Presidents.

Democracy--Latin America.

Democracy.

Latin America--Politics and government.

Latin America.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (322 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Summary:

During Latin America's third democratic wave, a majority of countries adopted a runoff rule for the election of the president, effectively dampening plurality voting, opening the political arena to new parties, and assuring the public that the president will never have anything less than majority support. In a region in which undemocratic political parties were common and have often been dominated by caudillos, cautious naysayers have voiced concerns about the runoff process, arguing that a proliferation of new political parties vying for power is a sign of inferior democracy. This text is the first rigorous assessment of the implications of runoff versus plurality rules throughout Latin America, and demonstrates that, in contrast to early scholarly skepticism about runoff, it has been positive for democracy in the region.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note:

Acknowledgments

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Research Design and Quantitative Analysis

Chapter Three: Why Was Runoff Superior? Theory and Cross-National Evidence

Chapter Four: Plurality: Problems in Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Venezuela (and the Panama Exception)

Chapter Five: Runoff: Success in Brazil, Chile, The Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Uruguay

Chapter Six: Runoff Amid a Plethora of Political Parties: Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Peru

Chapter Seven: Runoff: Is a Reduced Threshold Better? Argentina and Costa Rica

Chapter Eight: Conclusion and the Future of Presidential-Election Rules

Appendices

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Previously issued in print: 2018.

ISBN:

0-19-087978-5

0-19-087979-3

0-19-087977-7