Latin America in Times of Turbulence: Presidentialism under Stress(Routledge Studies in Latin American Politics)

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781003324249, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. This book accounts for and analyses the latest developments in Latin American presidential democracies, with a special focus on political institutions. The stellar line-up of renowned scholars of Latin American politics and institutions from Latin America, Europe, and the United States offer new insights into how democratic institutions have operated within the critical context that marked the political and social life of the region in the last few years: the eruption of popular protest and discontent, the widespread distrust of political institutions, and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. Combining different methodological approaches, including cross-national studies, small-N studies, case studies, and quantitative and qualitative data, the contributions cluster around three themes: the problem with fixed terms and other features of presidentialism, inter-institutional relations and executive accountability, and old and new threats to democracy in these times of turmoil. The volume concludes with an assessment of the political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America. Beyond current scholars and students of comparative political scientists, Latin America in Times of Turbulence will be of great interest to a wide spectrum of readers interested in comparative systems of government, democracy studies, and Latin American politics more generally.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Latin American Presidential Democracies in Times of Turbulence  2. The Limits of Presidential Impeachment: Lessons from Latin America  3. Referendums about Presidential mandates: Deviations or Correctives?  4. Hyper-Presidentialism under Question: Evidence from Chile  5. The Power of the Administrative Decisions of Latin American Presidents  6. Latin American Legislatures during the Pandemic  7. Court–Executive Relations during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Business as Usual or Democratic Backsliding?  8. Democracy, Electoral Institutions and Digital Platforms in Latin America  9. Dynasties, Double-Dealings, and Delinquencies: Some Entangled Features of Subnational Politics in Mexico  10. Latin America’s Armed Forces in the 2020s: A Return to the Past or Something New?  11. Conclusion: The Political Consequences of the Pandemic in Latin America

About the Author :
Mariana Llanos is Lead Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and Extraordinary Professor of Democratic Institutions in the Global South at the University of Erfurt, Germany. In her research, she compares Latin American political institutions, with a particular focus on the presidency, presidential impeachments, and courts-executive relations. Leiv Marsteintredet is Professor at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, where he also currently holds the position as Chair. Marsteintredet has mainly worked on political institutions and democracy in Latin America focusing on critical events such as coups, presidential breakdowns, and presidential impeachments.