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54731. Privatization and Regulation: Lessons from Argentina and Chile

Author:
Luigi Manzetti
Publication Date:
04-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Some economists have argued that before governments privatize state-owned monopolies in public utilities, they should first try to promote competition. If this is not done, privatization does not produce gains in economic efficiency; instead, it fosters rent-seeking behavior by the new private ownership. Few empirical analyses of rent-seeking behavior for Latin America in post-privatization environments have been done — those that exist concentrate on economic issues and neglect important political motivations. The purpose of this paper is to fill that gap and address key issues of public policy by examining the cases of Chile and Argentina and providing a political explanation for why the Chilean and Argentine governments allowed rent-seeking behavior in important public utility markets. Based upon an analysis of these experiences, the paper then discusses the types of institutions most likely to avoid such negative consequences.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Political Economy

54732. Private Investment as a Financing Source for Microcredit

Author:
Carter Garber
Publication Date:
01-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
In this paper, economist and development finance consultant Carter Garber examines the process of complementing donations and commercial bank credit with private investments as a source of capital for international microenterprise finance. First, he describes the large expectations for private capital in the rapid growth of microenterprise finance. Second, Garber discusses the varied sources of private capital, especially those involving socially responsible investment. The third and central section is an examination of eight “socially responsible investment” mechanisms that currently channel $27 million of U.S. private credit to microfinance lending institutions. Garber demonstrates the variety of available mechanisms and examines their track record to date. The final section identifies policy changes that will be necessary for these types of private investment in microenterprise to grow fast enough to meet the expected demand during the coming decade.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance

54733. Teenage Childbearing and Personal Responsibility: An Alternative View

Author:
Arline T. Geronimus
Publication Date:
09-1997
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
ARLINE T. GERONIMUS examines widely-shared assumptions about teen childbearing that informed the welfare reform debate. She argues that the scientific basis for these assumptions is equivocal and questions the belief that teen childbearing always represents irrationality and the abdication of personal responsibility.
Topic:
Reform, Youth, Welfare, Social Responsibility, and Parenthood
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

54734. Turkey-The Return of the Reluctant Generals?

Author:
Ben Lombardi
Publication Date:
07-1997
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
BEN LOMBARDI reviews developments currently affecting Turkish politics. He compares current trends with events in Turkey that preceded the three military coups in 1960, 1971, and 1980, and suggests that intervention in that country's domestic politics by the armed forces is a distinct possibility.
Topic:
History, Armed Forces, Domestic Politics, and Coup
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

54735. Full Faith and Credit for Same-Sex Marriages?

Author:
Ken I. Kersch
Publication Date:
03-1997
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
KEN I. KERSCH addresses federalism questions involving the obligations of states to recognize same-sex marriages under the full faith and credit clause. He argues that a consideration of traditional norms of comity among states along with the nation's experience with analogous disputes concerning slavery and antimiscegnation statutes would be useful to policy makers grappling with the issue.
Topic:
Domestic Politics, LGBT+, Federalism, and Marriage
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

54736. Party Discipline in the Brazilian Constitutional Congress

Author:
Scott Mainwaring and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán
Publication Date:
03-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyzes party discipline in the Brazilian constitutional congress of 1987-88, focusing on roll call votes in 1988. Because of the large number (1,021) of roll call votes during the constitutional congress and the availability of an excellent data base, the Brazilian constitutional congress offers an opportunity for one of the most detailed studies that has been conducted of party discipline in a Third World legislature. We begin with a discussion of how we have calculated discipline scores, given some distinctive features of the Brazilian party system and the constitutional congress. We show that the biggest Brazilian parties of this period were comparatively undisciplined, and we also show that the leftist parties were a powerful exception to this general tendency. We demonstrate that legislators who switched parties during the constitutional congress were more likely than others to be undisciplined before switching and that their discipline increased markedly after their move to new parties. Finally, we attempt to explain why discipline was low in all but the leftist parties.
Topic:
Democratization, Governance, Democracy, Constitution, and Political Parties
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

54737. Is the Third Wave of Democratization Over? An Empirical Assessment

Author:
Larry Diamond
Publication Date:
03-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the Portuguese military overthrew the Salazar/Caetano dictatorship in April of 1974, the number of democracies in the world has multiplied dramatically. Before the start of this global trend toward democracy, there were roughly 40 countries in the world that could be rated as more or less democratic. The number increased moderately through the late 1970s and early 1980s as a number of states experienced transitions from authoritarian (predominantly military) to democratic rule. But then, in the mid-1980s, the pace of global democratic expansion accelerated markedly, to the point where as of 1996 there were somewhere between 76 and 117 democracies, depending on how one counts. How one counts is crucial, however, to the task of this essay: thinking about whether democracy will continue to expand in the world, or even hold steady at its current level. In fact, it raises the most fundamental philosophical and political questions of what we mean by democracy.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Dictatorship
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, South America, Central America, Caribbean, and Portugal

54738. Is the Third Wave of Democratization Over? The Imperative of Consolidation

Author:
Larry Diamond
Publication Date:
03-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In Kellogg Institute Working Paper no. 236 I charted the progress of what Huntington has called the 'third wave' of global democratic expansion, from 1974 to the present, distinguishing among the various types of democracy that have resulted. If I am right in my analysis, democracy, and especially liberal democracy, will not expand in the coming years. It could recede into a reverse wave. It could just keep persisting, becoming less liberal and more artificial in the process. Or it could stabilize and sink firm roots in countries where it is now present-and even liberal-but not secure. If the historical pattern is to be defied and a third reverse wave avoided, the overriding imperative in the coming years is to consolidate those democracies that have come into being during the 'third wave.' In this paper I examine various conceptual approaches to consolidation and identify a number of challenges faced by new and insecure democracies. The paper concludes with a discussion of future prospects for democracy worldwide.
Topic:
Democratization, Globalization, Democracy, and Consolidation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

54739. Indigenous Politics and Democracy: Contesting Citizenship in Latin America

Author:
Deborah J. Yashar
Publication Date:
07-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Ethnic cleavages have rarely given rise to political organizing and sustained political conflict in Latin America. Over the past two decades, however, Latin America has witnessed a wave of rural organizing and movement building that mobilizes Indians as Indians to advance and defend self-proclaimed indigenous rights. This paper addresses why indigenous identity has become a more salient basis of political organizing and source of political claims in Latin America over the past two decades. After analyzing alternative theoretical approaches, the paper proposes a historically grounded comparative analysis that situates indigenous identity and movement formation in relation to the process of state building and the changing terms of citizenship. Drawing on social movement theory, the author suggests the conditions under which identity and organization have merged to generate indigenous movements in the region.
Topic:
Politics, Race, Democracy, Citizenship, Ethnicity, Indigenous, and Identity
Political Geography:
South America, Central America, and Caribbean

54740. Macro Comparisons without the Pitfalls: A Protocol for Comparative Research

Author:
J. Samuel Valenzuela
Publication Date:
04-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Comparative analysis is, with statistical and case study approaches, one of the three main tools for studying macrophenomena in the social sciences. This paper begins by delimiting its essential characteristics in contrast to the other two approaches, noting that it owes much of its strength to cases studies even though it focuses, like statistical methods, on explaining how phenomena vary, producing both similarities and differences among cases (the complex configurations of variables where the phenomena are studied). The paper then presents a protocol of research steps that must be followed in order to minimize the possibilities of error in using comparative analysis. It is easy to fall prey to such errors, given the many variables that must be examined in a smaller number of cases-the defining feature of this form of analysis. Juan Linz's work is frequently mentioned as among the most insightful in comparative analysis because it has followed, avant la lettre, the protocol presented here.
Topic:
Democratization, Social Movement, and Research
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America