Politics and Political Elites in Latin America : Challenges and Trends

This book presents in-depth analyses of the data gathered for 26 years by the Political Elites of Latin America project (PELA), the most comprehensive database about the topic in the world. Since 1994, PELA has conducted around 9,000 personal interviews with representative samples of the Legislative Powers of 18 Latin American countries, generating a unique resource for the study of political elites in a comparative perspective. Now, this contributed volume brings together studies that dig into the data gathered by PELA to discuss important topics related to the challenges faced by representative democracy in Latin America. After an introductory chapter that presents the potential of the PELA database, the book is structured in two parts. The first addresses in eight chapters important aspects of representative democracy such as political ambition, political trust, satisfaction with democracy, clientelism and the quality of democracy. It then discusses three relevant issues in Latin American political dynamics such as executive-legislative relations, women's participation as representatives, and the meaning of China and the United States in national politics. The second part addresses in five chapters studies of seven national cases that are representative of regional heterogeneity. These chapters aim to examine parliamentarian elites’ attitudes in different political systems with regard to a variety of relevant issues such as institutional trust, satisfaction with democracy, Executive-Legislative relations, clientelism, and gender questions. Furthermore, these chapters intend to evince the evolution of such attitudes in the course of the last two decades. __Politics and Political Elites in Latin America: Challenges and Trends__ will be of interest to scholars and students of comparative politics in general and, more particularly, to those interested in the challenges faced by representative democracy not only in Latin America, but in many parts of the world. This book presents in-depth analyses of the data gathered for 26 years by the Political Elites of Latin America project (PELA), the most comprehensive database about the topic in the world. Since 1994, PELA has conducted around 9,000 personal interviews with representative samples of the Legislative Powers of 18 Latin American countries, generating a unique resource for the study of political elites in a comparative perspective. Now, this contributed volume brings together studies that dig into the data gathered by PELA to discuss important topics related to the challenges faced by representative democracy in Latin America. After an introductory chapter that presents the potential of the PELA database, the book is structured in two parts. The first addresses in eight chapters important aspects of representative democracy such as political ambition, political trust, satisfaction with democracy, clientelism and the quality of democracy. It then discusses three relevant issues in Latin American political dynamics such as executive-legislative relations, women's participation as representatives, and the meaning of China and the United States in national politics. The second part addresses in five chapters studies of seven national cases that are representative of regional heterogeneity. These chapters aim to examine parliamentarian elites' attitudes in different political systems with regard to a variety of relevant issues such as institutional trust, satisfaction with democracy, Executive-Legislative relations, clientelism, and gender questions. Furthermore, these chapters intend to evince the evolution of such attitudes in the course of the last two decades. Politics and Political Elites in Latin America: Challenges and Trends will be of interest to scholars and students of comparative politics in general and, more particularly, to those interested in the challenges faced by representative democracy not only in Latin America, but in many parts of the world. Studying Political Elites in Latin America will be of interest to scholars and students of comparative politics in general and, more particularly, to those interested in the challenges faced by representative democracy not only in Latin America, but in many parts of the world. Front Matter ....Pages i-x Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 PELA-USAL: A Methodological Tool for the Study of Elites (Mélany Barragán, Cristina Rivas Pérez, José Manuel Rivas Otero)....Pages 3-26 Political Ambition in Latin America (Theresa Kernecker)....Pages 27-49 Political Trust of Parliamentary Elites in Latin America (Cristina Rivas Pérez, Manuel Alcántara)....Pages 51-76 Satisfaction with Democracy in Latin America: Perspectives from Political Elites and Citizens (Mar Martínez Rosón, Araceli Mateos Díaz)....Pages 77-96 Shopping for Votes in Latin America: When Do Legislators Engage in Vote-Buying Practices? (Margarita Corral, Mar Martínez Rosón)....Pages 97-127 Political Elites and Democratic Fatigue in Latin America (Asbel Bohigues, Manuel Alcántara)....Pages 129-149 Executive-Legislative Relations: When Do Legislators Trust the President? (Ignacio Arana Araya, Carolina Guerrero Valencia)....Pages 151-171 Political Paths and Gender in Latin America. An Analysis of the Trajectories of Legislative Elites (Mercedes García Montero, Cecilia Graciela Rodríguez)....Pages 173-200 Covariance of Latin American Elite Attitudes Towards the USA and China (Asbel Bohigues, Scott Morgenstern)....Pages 201-218 Front Matter ....Pages 219-219 What Can Ideology Tell Us? An Analysis of Deputies and Parties in the Brazilian, Chilean, and Uruguayan Legislatures (Carlos Ranulfo Melo, Manoel Leonardo Santos, Rafael Câmara)....Pages 221-246 Democracy and Political Institutions in Mexico from the Perspective of Parliamentary Elites (Cristian Márquez, Patricia Marenghi)....Pages 247-276 Parliamentary Opposition: An Explanatory Analysis of Ideological and Evaluative Elements in the Congress of Colombia (2006–2022) (Adriana Ramírez Baracaldo, José Manuel Rivas Otero)....Pages 277-294 Parliamentary Elites in Uruguay (Daniel Chasquetti, Lucía Selios)....Pages 295-325 Two Cases from Central America: Attitudes of Political Elites in Panama and Guatemala (Mélany Barragán)....Pages 327-344 Back Matter ....Pages 345-353