Synopses & Reviews
This volume on democratic accountability addresses one of the burning issues on the agenda of policy makers and citizens in contemporary Latin America: how democratic leaders in Latin America can improve accountability while simultaneously promoting governmental effectiveness. Written by well-known scholars from both Latin America and the United States, the volume enhances understanding of these key themes, which are central to the future of democracy in Latin America.
Review
Mainwaring and Welna's volume broadens the conceptual focus, addressing courts as only one of a group of political and societal actors which jointly provide accountability. The debates raised here, and the insight that the ongoing interaction between various institutions is essential to constructing accountability, will surely become a mainstay of the growing literature on accountability in Latin America. --Matthew M. Taylor, University of São Paulo
About the Author
Scott Mainwaring is Conley Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame Christopher Welna is Associate Director, Kellog Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame
Table of Contents
Conceptual and Theoretical Issues 1. Introduction: Democratic Accountability in Latin America, Scott Mainwaring
2. Horizontal Accountability: The Legal Institutionalization of Mistrust, Guillermo O'Donnell
3. Horizontal Accountability: Concepts and Conflicts, Charles D. Kenney
Legislatures, Executives, and Oversight Agencies
4. The Accountability Deficit in Latin America, Erika Moreno, Brian F. Crisp, and Matthew Soberg Shugart
5. Legislative Oversight: Interests and Institutions in the United States and Argentina, Scott Morgenstern and Luigi Manzetti
6. The Role of Congress as an Agency of Horizontal Accountability: Lessons from the Brazilian Experience, Argelina Cheibub Figueiredo
The Judiciary, the Public Prosecution Office, and Rule of Law
7. The New Brazilian Public Prosecution: An Agent of Accountability, Maria Tereza Sadek and Rosangela Batista Cavalcanti
8. Horizontal Accountability and the Rule of Law in Central America, Michael Dodson and Donald W. Jackson
9. Authoritarianism, Democracy and the Supreme Court: horizontal exchange and the rule of law in Mexico, Beatriz Magaloni
Societal Accountability
10. Societal and Horizontal Controls: Two Cases of a Fruitful Relationship, Catalina Smulovitz and Enrique Peruzzotti