Political Behavior in Venezuela
In Corrales and Penfold-Bencerra’s “Venezuela: Crowding Out the Opposition” they walk us through Chavez’s rise and strategies not only to maintain but increase his political power. How even though his policies and governing is questionable, it was still being…
Political Behavior
Lesly Boateng Professor Castillo Political Science Blog Post 3 Economic Shocks and Democratic Vulnerabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean The article by Abby Cordova clarifies in the beginning an understanding that Latin American countries economic crisis started…
Institutions Alter Incentives and Executive Power Everywhere
In light of recent events in the United States and abroad, the reading was particularly applicable. Put simply, institutions often play a significant role in determining the scope and nature of executive power, as well as who eventually gets to…
Political Attitudes During Economic Crisis
The impacts of economic downturns and shocks on public attitudes toward democracy in Latin America is examined by Cordova and Seligson in their article “Economic Shocks and Democratic Vulnerabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean”. Cordova and Seligson specifically look…
Crowding Out the Opposition in Venezuela
In the Corrales & Penfold-Becerra article for this week they discuss Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s continuous power grabbing from around 2005 to around the publication of this article in 2007. During his presidency, Venezuela had a fairly weak system of…
Venezuela: Crowding the Opposition
Javier Corrales and Michael Penfold-Becerra wrote this week’s article, Venezuela: Crowding Out the Opposition. In it, they discuss Chavez’s continued and unnecessary push towards authoritarianism due to “elite intentions,” or the ideologies of elected politicians as well as their biased…
Crowding the Opposition
President Nicholas Maduro won the election in Venezuela in 2013. He was Hugo Chavez’s predecessor. Since Hugo Chavez’s death the country has taken a slow tumble for the worst. President Hugo Chavez brought economic growth because of the rising oil…
Poltical Behavior in Brazil (Democracy under Seige)
https://www.opendemocracy.net/democraciaabierta/juca-ferreira-francesc-badia-i-dalmases/brazilian-democracy-has-been-attacked Attached please find an article in which I came across, that clearly paints a picture of what many Brazilians feel is a not so “democratic” government. As Figure 11.3 on page 304 in Democracy in Latin America, you…
Why Economic Inequality and Low Economic Growth Might Threaten Democracy?
Cordova and Seligson’s (2010) studies prove that low economic development and low economic growth, and high economic inequality, can escalate the democratic vulnerabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, these economic conditions affect people differently at the individual level….