Berntzen, Einar, "Democratic consolidation in Central America: a qualitative comparative approach" Third World Quarterly, Vol 14, No 3, 1993. I came for the qualitative comparison but I'm staying for the democracy analysis & regional focus.
"It is widely assumed that elections may promote democracy, but for decades dictatorial regimes in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have periodically held elections that merely reinforced or justified authoritarian rule." 589 👀
"The reason for this is that the main obstacle to democratization in Central America has been the existence of authoritarian regimes formed by a sociopolit- ical alliance between the oligarchies and the military." 589
we need to remember that "military" is not a necessary part of that equation. alliance between political and business elite works too.
"For elections to promote democracy through their potential to institutionalise political uncertainty, the outcome of the political process must not be contingent upon its compatibility with the economic interests and values of the oligarchies and their military allies" 589
"Democracy is a matter of power." 589
"elections may at best constitute an element of liberalisation, which is not the same as democratisation, even though one cannot have a democratic system without elections." 590
This is a quote within the paper: "The process of establishing a democracy is a process of institutionalizing uncertainty . . ." Adam Przeworski, 'Democracy as a contingent outcome of conflicts', in Rune Slagstad & Jon Elster (eds)
Constitutions and Democracy, Cambridge Universit
Constitutions and Democracy, Cambridge Universit
such a good quote. I need to look up that chapter
"Defining democracy is no easy task because disputes concerning its prospects
and consolidation depend on how the concept itself is operationalised." 590 yes I am here for this
and consolidation depend on how the concept itself is operationalised." 590 yes I am here for this
"A minimalist position that has become common in post-World War II political
science in the United States is to equate democracy with elections alone.
[...] As already implied in the introduction, this definition will simply not do." 590 PREACH IT
science in the United States is to equate democracy with elections alone.
[...] As already implied in the introduction, this definition will simply not do." 590 PREACH IT
"On the other hand, approaches that want to include substantive properties, such as socioeconomic equality and popular participation, into the definition of democracy,7 are hard-pressed to find 'actual' democratic regimes to study" 590
GEE I WONDER IF WE CONGRATULATE OURSELVES ON DEMOCRACY SO WE DON'T HAVE TO LOOK AT ALL THESE OTHER PROBLEMS
"It's all right, we're democratic, it will definitely all work itself out."
ok back to the article "such maximalist approaches do not permit a systematic and objective investigation of the hypothetical relationship between democratic
political forms and substantive socioeconomic policy outcomes because this
important difference disappears." 590
political forms and substantive socioeconomic policy outcomes because this
important difference disappears." 590
"I will therefore settle for a procedural definition of democracy but one which still enables us to discriminate between true democracy and sham democracy. Myron Weiner's definition of democracy is of such a kind.9" 590 *jumps to footnote*
Myron Weiner & Ergun Ozbudun, Competitive Elections in Developing Countries, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1987.
4 elements: "(dl) government leaders are chosen in competitive elections in which there are opposition political parties" 590
"(d2) political parties, including opponents of the existing government, have the right openly to seek public support-they have access to the press, the right of assembly and freedom of speech and are protected against unwarranted arrest" 590
"(d3) goveruments defeated in an election step down; losers are not punished by the winner" 590
"(d4) elected governments are not figureheads; they exercise power and make policies and they are accountable to the electors, not to the military, the monarchy, the bureaucracy or some oligarchy." 590
where we're falling down right now is "accountable to the electors." accountability requires information. it also requires breaking the link between money and elections; if money can buy votes (even indirectly through propaganda) votes are less valuable.
"The issue of accountability is essential to prospects for the long-term success of democracy in Central America" 590-591
or, you know, other places in America
or, you know, other places in America
"Traditionally there has been little public accountability for those who wielded power in Central America. Rather, leaders catered privately to either the military, the oligarchy, the private external financial interests with investments in the country, or some combination." 591
Are leaders accountable in this country? Have they been in the past? Are local leaders held accountable?
"The permanency of the military in power, either formally or informally, has prompted Solorzano to describe Central America as a region of
'faqade democracies' (democracias de facha)" 591 #subtweet
'faqade democracies' (democracias de facha)" 591 #subtweet
(again, replace "military" with "rich")
so now the paper reviews some gag-worthy old colonialist political theory about preconditions for democracy so skimming over that .
(incidentally, I'm aware that this paper is also a little old and I'm sure there's lots of new stuff out since. As I said this is not exactly my field, I found this on a search for qualitative comparison, but I'm edging into it so poli-sci people hit me up with your favs please!)
Samuel Huntington was WRONG bwahahahahaha p. 592
"most democracies in Europe, and Latin America's oldest democracy in Costa Rica, have emerged from quite 'uncivic' civil wars." 592 YES let's remember that Europe didn't just civilly decide to democratize itself
"Even granted the tremendous uncertainty triggered by a regime transition, the decisions made by various actors respond to and are conditioned by the socioeconomic structures and political institutions already present" 593
"Political democracies have lasted only in countries where non-labour-repressive agriculture has predominated. Thus the survivability of political democracy does seem to depend on [...] the absence of a strong landowner elite engaged in labour-repressive agriculture." 593
WHICH BEGS THE QUESTION: can political democracy survive a strong corporate elite engaged in labour-repressive industry?????
because if you break it down, the problem with labor-repressive ag is that laborers have no time or money to stay informed and are in danger of losing jobs if they disagree with land-owners. Is that really so different from working 2 minimum wage jobs with no benefits?
"Our investigation of the necessary & sufficient conditions for a successful transition to liberal democracy in Central America shall consider three fa- vourable conditions: [...]external (US) support (C). " has US support EVER been favorable for democracy in CentralAm?
"Most national-level events of interest to comparativists display a great deal of
causal complexity." 593 okay now we're getting into the methodological stuff I need
causal complexity." 593 okay now we're getting into the methodological stuff I need
"The more the cases differ, the greater the apparent paradox and the more challenging the task of identifying the common underlying causal factors." 594
"Democracy and revolution are not mutually exclusive, but neither can their compatibility be assumed a priori." 597
And now, a medley: "Still, the US government refused to acknowledge that the 1984 elections in Nicaragua had produced a legitimate government." 598
"The United States insisted on maintaining the image of democracy in Honduras in order to secure the support of the US Congress for turning the country into a garrison state to be used as a base and cover for the CIA-backed Contra operations against Nicaragua" 599
"both the Reagan administration and the military desperately needed the appearance of democratic rule in Honduras to extract aid and public support in the United States." 600
"El Salvador since 1982: the case of US imposed 'demonstration' elections." 600
"The decision to hold elections in El Salvador in 1982 during a civil war was motivated primarily by United States foreign policy concerns and only secon- darily by Salvadoran internal events" 601
"The 1982 elections were imposed by the US in order to improve the international image of the ruling Salvadoran junta as well as to avoid strong pressures for a negotiated settlement between domestic power contenders." 601
" the successive coups that put generals Rlos Montt and Mejia Vlctores in power, as well as the election that ended the military regime and placed Christian Democrat Vinicio Cerezo in the presidency were all heavily influenced by Guatemalan perceptions of US policy. " 602
remember that when someone talks to you about asylum seekers
"Elections in themselves do not constitute democracy. However, they can represent a step forward in the process of democratisation, but the opposite is also possible: elections can impede democratisation." 600
"xternally manipulated elections can be barriers to democratisation.34 Their concept of 'demonstration elections' can be extended to include elections held not under the aegis of an external power, but staged by a government for its own symbolic purposes." 602
