Papers by Eliza Willis
Latin American Politics and Society, 2012
ABSTRACT The process of ratifying CAFTA in Costa Rica required traversing a contentious political... more ABSTRACT The process of ratifying CAFTA in Costa Rica required traversing a contentious political landscape involving intense legislative battles, massive public demonstrations, and finally a national referendum in October 2007. By employing the mechanism of direct democracy to ratify a free trade agreement, Costa Rica made history. But how did this experiment with direct participation affect Costa Rica's democracy? This article evaluates what the referendum achieved in terms of promoting citizen engagement, equipping voters to make informed choices, resolving the CAFTA conflict in a way viewed as legitimate, and shaping citizens' relationships to representative institutions. While the referendum had positive effects, it had several negative consequences for representative democracy, which raises questions about the limits of democratic control over economic policy in the era of globalization.
Journal of Latin American Studies, 2004
Journal of Latin American Studies, 2004
Robert H. Wilson, Peter M. Ward, Peter K. Spink and Victoria E. Rodríguez, with Marta Ferreira Santos Farah, Lawrence S. Graham, Pedro Jacobi, Allison M. Rowland et al., Governance in the Americas: Decentralization, Democracy, and Subnational Government in Brazil, Mexico, and the USA (Notre Dame ... Journal of Latin American Studies, 2009
Journal of Latin American Studies, 2005
Journal of Latin American Studies, 1995
... Robert Grey, Stephan Haggard, Mark Osiel, Marvin Rintala, Ben Ross Schneider, Kathryn Sikkink... more ... Robert Grey, Stephan Haggard, Mark Osiel, Marvin Rintala, Ben Ross Schneider, Kathryn Sikkink, Barbara ... e Establidade Politico ip;6-rp6r (Rio de Janeiro, 1979); and H. Silva, Juscelino, 0 ... C. de Paiva Leite, 'Brazilian Development: One Problem and Two Banks', Inter-American ...
Journal of Latin American Studies, 2001
Page 1. J. Lat. Amer. Stud. , Cambridge University Press Printed in the United Kingdom Re... more Page 1. J. Lat. Amer. Stud. , Cambridge University Press Printed in the United Kingdom Reviews J. Lat. Amer. Stud. ( DOI: .S Cambridge ...
Journal of Latin American Studies, 2001
Journal of Democracy, 1997
ABSTRACT Journal of Democracy 8.1 (1997) 173-177 Local Government in Latin America. By R. Andrew ... more ABSTRACT Journal of Democracy 8.1 (1997) 173-177 Local Government in Latin America. By R. Andrew Nickson. Lynne Rienner, 1995. 316 pp. This book is an admirable contribution to the study of local government in Latin America, a subject that has been mostly neglected in writing on the consolidation of democracy. Recent books by leading scholars of Latin American politics contain no extended discussions of local or municipal government or intergovernmental relations. Yet reviving local government may prove as critical to institutionalizing democracy as building political parties, empowering legislatures, strengthening courts, or extending civilian control over the military. National governments throughout the region have presented decentralization and the reform of local government as a significant break with the past and a major step toward establishing more democratic societies. R. Andrew Nickson's rich description of the current state of municipal government provides valuable insights into how far most Latin American countries have come toward achieving these goals. Although some historians have celebrated the democratic legacy of local administration through town meetings (cabildos abiertos) during the colonial period, Latin America has no tradition of strong local government. Nickson shows that personalism, elitism, corruption, and a centralist tradition were the true inheritances of colonial rule. After centuries of centralization local government became "simply the plaything" of central authorities and powerful local economic elites. Even in the region's four federal states (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela), local governments had no exclusive areas of competence. Thus the familiar political-science distinction between federal and unitary forms of government had little meaning in practice. When centralization peaked in the 1970s, most blamed it on the prevalence of military rule. Yet elected governments in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Venezuela also showed the same centralizing tendencies, denying their citizens the basic right to elect mayors. Since the 1980s, however, there have been signs of a significant revival of local government. Municipal governments now account for a growing share of total public expenditures. They enjoy new freedom in assessing and collecting local taxes. They receive an increasing share of total public revenues, and provide more basic services. In some cases, they have become the principal locus of development planning. The significance of local government looms even larger when one considers that by the year 2000, over 75 percent of all Latin Americans will live in cities of more than 20,000 inhabitants. The election of mayors, once a rarity, had become the norm throughout the region by 1994. Despite the obvious importance of these changes, we have few studies of the current operation of local government. Nickson's principal aim is to "fill the information gap on Latin American local government in the English-speaking world" (p. 3). The book's first part provides a succinct yet comprehensive overview of features common to local governments throughout the region. In separate chapters Nickson examines their history, legal status, structure, functional responsibilities, finances, electoral systems, and internal organization. He also assesses the extent of citizen participation and the nature of intermunicipal relations. These chapters offer the best introduction to the core issues and key debates about local government in Latin America available in any language. The second part of the book describes local government in 18 countries, including Brazil and all of Spanish-speaking America (except Cuba). Nickson organizes these country profiles according to the subject areas in the book's first part, thereby facilitating comparisons across different countries. Nickson is generally upbeat about the prospects for establishing more accountable and democratic governments at the local level. First, the prior orthodoxy -- that the central state is exclusively responsible for the provision of services, collection of revenue, and development planning -- has been firmly rejected. Though largely overlooked by North American scholars, the decentralization of service provision has been as much a part of state reform as the privatization of state-owned corporations. Second, Nickson credits the "new social movements" and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of the 1980s with reviving municipal sentiment and promoting direct citizen participation in local government. Third, newly established intermunicipal associations have become a vigorous lobbying force defending the interests of local governments in many Latin American countries. Finally, several international organizations are actively promoting stronger local government...
International Review of Administrative Sciences, 1996
Latin American Research Review, 1999
Page 1. THE POLITICS OF DECENTRALIZATION IN LATIN AMERICA* Eliza Willis, Grinnell College Christo... more Page 1. THE POLITICS OF DECENTRALIZATION IN LATIN AMERICA* Eliza Willis, Grinnell College Christopher da CB Garman, University of California, San Diego Stephan Haggard, University of California, San Diego Abstract ...
Book Reviews by Eliza Willis
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Papers by Eliza Willis
Book Reviews by Eliza Willis