Presidential Breakdowns in Latin America: Causes and Outcomes of Executive Instability in Developing Democracies

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Review Quotes:?A worrisome proportion of democratically elected presidents in Latin America fail to complete their terms in office. This collection represents a major advance in our understanding of contemporary democracy in the region. Contrary to journalistic interpretations, the authors demonstrate that presidential breakdown is driven more by executive-legislative relations than by popular protests ? and also that recent presidential breakdowns are more likely to lead to the reequilibration of a democratic regime than to its demise. In combining creative theory-building with detailed coverage of recent political history, this volume is a major contribution to comparative presidentialism and to the study of Latin American democracy.?--Timothy J. Power, University of Oxford?The choice of the term ?presidential breakdown? to conceptually describe the many early presidential exits in Latin America is right on target, as it accurately describes one of the mosBiographical Note: Mariana Llanos is a Senior Research Fellow at the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Institute of Latin American Studies, in Hamburg, Germany. She holds a Ph. D. in Politics from the University of Oxford and has published books and numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and has edited books on Latin American political institutions, particularly Argentine politics, president-congress relations in Argentina, and the legislatures of the Southern Cone. Leiv Marsteintredet is a PhD Research Fellow with the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is currently completing his Ph. D. dissertation on presidential breakdowns in Latin America. Marsteintredet has published articles on presidential breakdowns and on political institutions in the Dominican Republic in journals such as "Comparative Politics," "Latin American Politics and Society," and "America Latina Hoy."Review Quotes:"A worrisome proportion of democratically elected presidents in Latin America fail to complete their terms in office. This collection represents a major advance in our understanding of contemporary democracy in the region. Contrary to journalistic interpretations, the authors demonstrate that presidential breakdown is driven more by executive-legislative relations than by popular protests - and also that recent presidential breakdowns are more likely to lead to the reequilibration of a democratic regime than to its demise. In combining creative theory-building with detailed coverage of recent political history, this volume is a major contribution to comparative presidentialism and to the study of Latin American democracy."--Timothy J. Power, University of Oxford"The choice of the term 'presidential breakdown' to conceptually describe the many early presidential exits in Latin America is right on target, as it accurately describes one of the most interesting phenomena in Latin American presidentialism, brilliantly treated by the authors. The detailed knowledge of these breakdown processes, presented from a comparative perspective, is one of the great attributes of this must-read book."--Manuel Alcantara, Universidad de SalamancaTable of Contents: Introduction--Mariana Llanos & Leiv Marsteintredet * Part I: Comparative Perspectives * Presidentialism and Early Exits from Power: The Role of Congress--Ana-Maria Mustapic * Democratic Breakdowns and Presidential Breakdowns in Latin America: How Do They Compare?--Michael E. Alvarez & Leiv Marsteintredet * Part II: Cases of Repeated Breakdown * Presidential Breakdowns in Argentina--Mariana Llanos * Parliamentary Solutions to Presidential Crises in Ecuador--Andres Mejia Acosta and John Polga-Hecimovich * Civil Society, Social Protest and Presidential Breakdowns in Bolivia--Miguel Buitrago * Part III: The Cases of Impeachment * The Collor Impeachment and Presidential Government in Brazil--Argelina Figuereido * The Impeachment of Carlos Andres Perez and the Collapse of Venezuelan Partyarchy--Rickard Lalander * Paraguay: The President in his General's Labyrinth--Detlef Nolte * Part IV: Presidential Breakdowns Restoring Democratic Order * Guarding Privileges and Saving the Day: Guatemalan Elites and the Settlement of the Serranazo--Maren Christensen Bjune and Stina Petersen * The Fall of President Balaguer--Leiv Marsteintredet * Peru and the Fujimori Presidential Breakdown in 2000: Continuismo Gone Bad--Einar Berntzen and Tor-Einar Holvik Skinlo * Conclusions--Mariana Llanos & Leiv Marsteintredet

Contributor Bio:  Llanos, Mariana Mariana is a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Augsburg.