Politicians often buy votes with impunity. Brazil outlawed vote buying for many years, but prosecutions were rare. However, popular pressure mounted against the practice in the late 1990s. Over one million Brazilians signed a petition against vote buying, leading to the country’s first law by popular initiative passed by the national legislature. The law not only surmounted key obstacles to the popular initiative process but also dramatically increased prosecutions for clientelism during elections. Campaign handouts became the top reason that politicians were ousted in Brazil, with over a thousand removals from office. This study examines the role of civil society and the judiciary in the enactment and implementation of this important legislation.

This essay reviews the following works:

Ensaios de grande estratégia brasileira. By João Paulo S. Alsina Jr. Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV, 2018. Pp. 291. Reais 43.00 paperback. ISBN: 9788522520619.

Politics in Uniform: Military Officers and Dictatorship in Brazil, 1960–1980. By Maud Chirio. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. Pp. xii + 280. $28.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822965374.

Soldiers of the Nation: Military Service and Modern Puerto Rico, 1868–1952. By Harry Franqui-Rivera. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018. Pp. xiii + 342. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780803278677.

Fuerzas armadas, pretorianismo y calidad de la democracia: Ecuador y Uruguay. By Patricio Haro Ayerve. Quito: FLACSO, 2017. Pp. xix + 307. $18.00. ISBN: 9789978674789.

Brazil, 1964–1985: The Military Regimes of Latin America in the Cold War. By Herbert S. Klein and Francisco Vidal Luna. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017. Pp. xiii+ 216. $40.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780300223316.

Debating Civil-Military Relations in Latin America. Edited by David R. Mares and Rafael Martínez. Eastbourne, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2014. Pp. xii + 224. $69.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9781845195915.

Military Missions in Democratic Latin America. By David Pion-Berlin. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Pp. xiii + 218. $119.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781137592699.

Soldiers, Politicians, and Civilians: Reforming Civil-Military Relations in Democratic Latin America. By David Pion-Berlin and Rafael Martínez. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. i + 414. $32.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316604434.

Whether referendums, initiatives, and other mechanisms of direct democracy enhance representative systems is a matter of debate. Skeptics note—among other criticisms—that turnout tends to be low in referendums, often lower than in candidate elections in the same country. If citizens do not care enough to participate, how useful can these mechanisms be for improving the quality of democratic systems? We argue that low referendum turnout has as much to do with parties’ disincentives to mobilize voters as it does with voter disinterest. Prior research on political behavior in referendums has focused largely on Europe and assumes that voters view them as elections of lesser importance. By shifting focus to Latin America, we introduce more variation in the features of political parties that influence levels of turnout. We draw on cross-national evidence, qualitative research in Colombia, and quantitative analysis of municipal-level referendum voting behavior in Brazil. The key to understanding low voter turnout in these settings is the relatively weaker incentives that political parties have to turn out the vote when control over office is not at stake. We demonstrate that, in clientelistic systems, party operatives have particularly weak incentives to get their constituents out to the polls.

Clientelism is traditionally viewed as a mechanism through which patrons exert control over clients. Drawing on qualitative data from three municipalities in Santiago, Chile, and building on literature that emphasizes client agency, this article explores a variant of clientelism in which clients initiate and enforce clientelistic relationships. The findings suggest that these two forms of clientelism can differently impact a crucial aspect of democracy: horizontal accountability. Client-driven clientelism compels patrons to seek resources for distribution, rendering them susceptible to influence by those who can grant them access to these resources. When patrons are tasked with accountability roles and the resource providers are subject to their oversight (as in the relationship between municipal councilors and mayors), the providers can deter these accountability functions. In contrast, patrons with independent access to resources can better preserve their autonomy.

Populists emerge when distrust of state institutions or dissatisfaction with democracy convince voters that claims about conspiring elites blocking the general will are valid. We propose that these dynamics change when populists are incumbents; once they command institutions, their sustained support becomes contingent upon trust in the new institutional order, and they are held accountable for making people think democracy is working well. Newly collected data on party populism and survey data from Latin America show that support for populist parties in the region is conditioned by satisfaction with democracy as well as the incumbency status of populists. Dissatisfied voters support populist opposition parties, but support for populist incumbents is higher among those satisfied with democracy and its institutions. While democratic deficits and poor governance provide openings for populists, populists are held accountable for institutional outcomes.

En este artículo, estudiamos qué factores individuales y contextuales explican la confianza en los sindicatos latinoamericanos. Utilizando datos de Latinobarómetro (2018–2020), mostramos que la confianza en los sindicatos es mayor entre personas de clase trabajadora y clase media asalariada, así como entre quienes se identifican con la izquierda y confían más en las instituciones políticas. A nivel contextual, la confianza es mayor en países neo-desarrollistas (por ejemplo, Brasil y Uruguay) y menor en países capitalistas tercerizados (por ejemplo, México y países centroamericanos). Contrario a nuestra hipótesis, también encontramos que la confianza en los sindicatos es alta en Chile (un país liberal-rentista con sindicatos débiles) y baja en algunos países redistributivo-rentistas (Venezuela) y neo-desarrollistas (Argentina). Para explicar estos resultados, analizamos cómo la confianza en los sindicatos depende de aspectos contextuales como la informalidad laboral, el desempleo, la inflación, el poder de los partidos de izquierda y el nivel de movilización social.

This essay reviews the following works:

A Dynamic Theory of Populism in Power: The Andes in Comparative Perspective. By: Julio F. Carrión. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. xi + 269. $26.93 cloth. ISBN: 9780197572290.

¿Por qué funciona el populismo? El discurso que sabe construir explicaciones convincentes en un mundo en crisis. By María Esperanza Casullo. Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 2019. Pp. v + 208. $19.52 paperback. ISBN: 9789876298964.

The Chain of Representation: Preferences, Institutions, and Policy across Presidential Systems. By Brian F. Crisp, Olivella Santiago and Guillermo Rosas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. iii + 262. $36.69 paperback. ISBN: 9781108745413.

Shifting the Meaning of Democracy: Race, Politics, and Culture in the United States and Brazil. By Jessica Lynn Graham. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2019. Pp. iii + 365. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780520293762.

The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies. Edited by Diana Kapiszewski, Steven Levitsky, and Deborah J. Yashar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. iii + 537. $93.45 cloth. ISBN: 9781108842044.

Diminished Parties: Democratic Representation in Contemporary Latin America. Edited by Juan Pablo Luna, Rafael Piñeiro Rodríguez, Fernando Rosenblatt, and Gabriel Vommaro. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. iii + 341. $120.00 cloth. ISBN: 978–1316513187.

Democracia para Venezuela: ¿Representativa, participativa o populista? By Margarita López Maya. Caracas: Editorial Alfa, 2021. Pp. 3 + 238. $19.00 paperback. ISBN: 978–8412266566.

Checking Presidential Power: Executive Decrees and the Legislative Process in New Democracies. By Valeria Palanza. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. iii + 245. $108.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781108427623.

This essay reviews the following works:

• Anatomía de la derecha chilena: Estado, mercado y valores en tiempos de cambio. Edited by Stéphanie Alenda. Santiago: Fondo de Cultura Económica and Universidad Andrés Bello, 2020. Pp. 380. $19.04 paperback. ISBN: 9789562892025.

• Presidencialismo a la chilena: Coaliciones y cooperación política, 1990–2018. By Mireya Dávila Avendaño. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, 2020. Pp. 312. $20.36 paperback. ISBN: 9789561126923.

• La transición inacabada: El proceso político chileno 1990–2020. By Claudio Fuentes S. Santiago: Catalonia, 2021. Pp. 392. $22.64 paperback. ISBN: 9789563248388.

• Política y movimientos sociales en Chile: Antecedentes y proyecciones del estallido social de octubre 2019. Edited by Manuel Antonio Garretón. Santiago: LOM Ediciones, 2021. Pp. 308. $17.97 paperback. ISBN: 9789560014061.

• La democracia semisoberana: Chile después de Pinochet. By Carlos Huneeus. Santiago: Taurus, 2014. Pp. 614. $32.34 paperback. ISBN: 9789563477832.

• The Left Hand of Capital: Neoliberalism and the Left in Chile. By Fernando Ignacio Leiva. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2021. Pp. viii + 391. $33.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781438483610.

• En vez del optimismo: Crisis de representación política en el Chile actual. By Juan Pablo Luna. Santiago: Catalonia, 2017. Pp. 151. $12.58 paperback. ISBN: 9789563245431.

• La chusma inconsciente: La crisis de un país atendido por sus propios dueños. By Juan Pablo Luna. Santiago: Catalonia, 2021. Pp. 377. $14.02 paperback. ISBN: 9789563248999.

• Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe. By Aldo Madariaga. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. vii + 348. $43.81 hardcover. ISBN: 9780691182599.

• Octubre chileno: La irrupción de un nuevo pueblo. By Carlos Ruiz Encina. Santiago: Penguin Random House, 2020. Pp. 117. $10.78. ISBN: 9789566042259.

This essay reviews the following works:

Los últimos años de la reforma agraria mexicana, 1971–1991: Una historia política desde el noroeste. By Luis Aboites Aguilar. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico Press, 2022. Pp. 333. Paperback. $280.00. ISBN: 9786075643199.

Non-Policy Politics: Richer Voters, Poorer Voters, and the Diversification of Electoral Strategies. By Ernesto Calvo and Maria Victoria Murillo. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. vii + 300. Hardcover. $85.00. ISBN: 97811087497008.97.

The Volatility Curse: Exogenous Shocks and Representations in Resource-Rich Democracies. By Daniela Campello and Cesar Zucco. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. vii + 240. Paperback. $39.99. ISBN: 9781108795357.

Hybrid Regimes within Democracy: Fiscal Federalism and Subnational Rentier States. By Carlos Gervasoni. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. vii + 290. Paperback. $29.99. ISBN: 9781316510735.

Life in the Political Machine: Dominant-Party Enclaves and the Citizens They Produce. By Jonathan Hiskey and Mason Mosely. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. vii + 282. Hardcover. $82.00. ISBN: 9780197500408.

Conservative Party-Building in Latin America: Authoritarian Inheritance and Counterrevolutionary and Struggle. By James Loxton. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. xii + 304. Hardcover. $74.00. ISBN: 9780197537527.

Votes for Survival: Relational Clientelism in Latin America. By Simeon Nichter. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. ix + 324. Paperback. $32.99. ISBN: 9781108449502.

Local Mexico: Democratic Transitions in an Authoritarian Context. By Patricia Olney. Boulder, CO: First Forum, Lynne Rienner Press, 2018. Pp. 351. Hardcover. $89.95. ISBN: 978-1-62637-683-0.

This article seeks to understand the relationship between populism and participatory democracy through analysis of Rafael Correa’s left populist regime in Ecuador (2007–2017). It argues that rather than adhering to its own standard for participatory democracy, what the Correa regime referred to as the “Socialism of Buen Vivir,” it employed the rhetoric of participatory democracy in the service of populist rule. As a result, the Correa regime failed to promote the participatory form of democracy and citizenship promised in Buen Vivir, its version of twenty-first-century socialism. Accordingly, analysis of the Correa regime demonstrates how the concentration of top-down executive power characteristic of populism in general, and rentier populism in particular, impedes the egalitarian and solidaristic mission of participatory democracy. Thus, inductive analysis of the Correa regime reinforces the conceptual understanding that populism is antagonistic and antithetical to participatory democracy.

This essay reviews the following works:

The FBI in Latin America: The Ecuador Files. By Marc Becker. Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2017. Pp. vii + 322. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822369080.

The CIA in Ecuador. By Marc Becker. Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2021. Pp. xi + 317. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781478011385.

Movilidad y poder en el sur del Ecuador, 1950–1990. By María Mercedes Eguiguren. Quito: Editorial FLACSO Ecuador, 2019. Pp. viii + 274. Open access e-book. ISBN: 9789978675199.

Peasant Wars in Bolivia: Making, Thinking, and Living the Revolution in Cochabamba (1952–64). By José M. Gordillo. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2022. Pp. xiv + 337. $34.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781773854014.

A Concise History of Bolivia. 3rd ed. By Herbert F. Klein. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. xix + 380. $34.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781108948890.

Indigenous Struggle and the Bolivian National Revolution: Land and Liberty. By James Kohl. New York: Routledge, 2021. Pp. xii + 413. $64.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780367471392.

Historical Dictionary of Ecuador. By George M. Lauderbaugh. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019. Pp. xlviii + 322. $96.84 hardcover. ISBN: 9781538102459.

¡Vamos a avanzar! The Chaco War and Bolivia’s Political Transformation, 1899–1952. By Robert Niebuhr. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2021. Pp. xii + 260. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781496207784.

Los inconformistas del Centenario: Intelectuales, socialismo y nación en una Bolivia en crisis (1925–1939). By Pablo Stefanoni. La Paz: Plural Editores, 2015. Pp. 383. ISBN: 9789995416430.

The Bolivia Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Edited by Sinclair Thomson, Rossana Barragán, Xavier Albó, Seemin Qayum, and Mark Goodale. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. Pp. xx + 719. $35.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822371526.

This essay reviews the following works:

The Two Faces of Institutional Innovation: Promises and Limits of Democratic Participation in Latin America. By Leonardo Avritzer. Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2017. Pp. 192. $39.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781786436641.

The DNA of Constitutional Justice in Latin America: Politics, Governance, and Judicial Design. By Daniel M. Brinks and Abby Blass. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. xvi + 280. $34.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316630914.

Fixing Democracy: Why Constitutional Change Often Fails to Enhance Democracy in Latin America. By Javier Corrales. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. ix + 288. $31.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780190868901.

¿Por qué necesitamos una nueva constitución? By Claudia Heiss. Santiago de Chile: Aguilar, 2020. Pp. 140. $6.99 e-book. ISBN: 9789566063049.

Democracy from Above? The Unfulfilled Promise of Nationally Mandated Participatory Reforms. By Stephanie L. McNulty. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019. Pp. 248. $28.00 paperback. ISBN: 9781503608948.

Cómo hicieron la Constitución de 1917. By Ignacio Marván Laborde. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2017. Pp. 324. $15.95 paperback. ISBN: 9786077457664.

Building Participatory Institutions in Latin America: Reform Coalitions and Institutional Change. By Lindsay Mayka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xviii + 320. $80.41 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108470872.

Democracy at Work: Pathways to Well-Being in Brazil. By Brian Wampler, Natasha Borges Sugiyama, and Michael Touchton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xvii + 370. $79.71 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108493147.