Papers by Maxwell A. Cameron
The 2021 general election in Peru was one of the most contentious in recent memory. In the first ... more The 2021 general election in Peru was one of the most contentious in recent memory. In the first round, on April 11, voters expressed disapproval of the political class as whole. With the highest COVID-19 mortality rate in the world and an 11 percent economic contraction in 2020, it was perhaps unsurprising that no candidate exceeded the number of blank and spoiled ballots. Que se vayan todos was the resounding message—out with them all! The most successful candidate was Pedro Castillo, who won 19 percent of the valid votes cast, followed by Keiko Fujimori with 13 percent. The remaining votes were distributed among 16 unsuccessful candidates, including, on the right, Rafael López Aliaga and Hernando de Soto; on the left, Verónica Mendoza; and in the center, Yonhy Lescano.
<p>What kind of rulers and citizens do we need to attain the aims intrinsic to democracy? T... more <p>What kind of rulers and citizens do we need to attain the aims intrinsic to democracy? Two activities are central to democratic politics: citizenship and rule (or statespersonship). The performance of these activities, especially the latter, demands practical wisdom. This chapter explores three examples of the need for practical wisdom in politics. In the first, a political novice learned the importance of good judgment in politics, the primacy of the particular, the value of entering politics for the right reasons, and the need to use persuasion tailored to specific audiences. In the second, an expert politician with an instinct for doing the right thing in the right way and for the right reasons demonstrated a capacity to bend the rules in order to achieve the intrinsic aims of an institution. Finally, a practitioner who was unable to accomplish the aims of her practice within an institution created a new one, and in the process helped to redefine a major social problem.</p>
<p>Practical wisdom in political institutions is threatened by an ideology that is radicall... more <p>Practical wisdom in political institutions is threatened by an ideology that is radically hostile to politics as a means to attain common goods. Neoliberalism promotes competition in all spheres of life in order to foster utility maximizing behavior. A major consequence of the resulting failure to balance goods has been the rise of inequality, which has damaged democracy by concentrating wealth and power in the hands of the rich, by reinforcing the power of corporations, which are incapable of good citizenship, and by increasing the corrupting influence of money in politics. Aristotle warned that oligarchies emerge when the rich hold power and govern only for themselves, and this tendency has been a conspicuous feature of politics under neoliberalism.</p>
Democratic instability in the Andean region is often caused by an interaction between presidentia... more Democratic instability in the Andean region is often caused by an interaction between presidentialism and the weakness of the rule of law in the context of deep divisions in society. This argument is consistent with cross-national empirical evidence that countries with presidential constitutions are less stable than parliamentary democracies but only when the rule of law is weak. To demonstrate the causal mechanisms linking constitutions and the rule of law to democratic instability, constitutional crises are analyzed in five Andean countries and contrasted with two comparable cases of parliamentarism from South Asia. The comparison shows that presidentialism, unlike parliamentarism, may exacerbate instability where the rule of law is weak, as well as contribute to the erosion of the rule of law, thereby both directly and indirectly causing democratic instability. 1
<p>Competition between individuals seeking to maximize utility can lead to perverse outcome... more <p>Competition between individuals seeking to maximize utility can lead to perverse outcomes like the tragedy of freedom in the commons. Cooperation to achieve common goods—like preventing the tragedy of the commons—requires the suspension of some forms of competition, but political theorists since Hobbes have been skeptical about the possibility of agreement on the good. Hobbes criticized Aristotle's emphasis on wisdom or prudence based on experience. In defense of Aristotle, I argue that common goods are rooted in experience, in pro-social sentiments like empathy, and in the capacity to see the self and others from multiple perspectives. But Aristotle also believed that reason and judgment played a role in the cultivation of the good.</p>
Indigenous Governance....................13 Economic Illegalities and the Underground Economy in ... more Indigenous Governance....................13 Economic Illegalities and the Underground Economy in Cuba.......14
This overview finds evidence for concern about the ability of the governments in Colombia and Ven... more This overview finds evidence for concern about the ability of the governments in Colombia and Venezuela to hold free and fair elections and a trend toward the concentration of executive power in most countries in the sub-region. The separation of powers has been most sharply eroded in Venezuela; but Bolivia and Ecuador are moving in a similar direction. Colombia has a robust constitutional order, including a remarkably independent judiciary which has resisted the concentration of executive power by refusing to let the president stand for a third term. At the same time, most Andean countries are experimenting with new mechanisms of participation. There are sharp contrasts between the model of participation in Bolivia and Venezuela, two countries often lumped together by observers; and, despite ideological differences, striking similarities in the presidential styles of Presidents Uribe and Chavez. Among Andean nations, only Chile is not undergoing a revolution in participation. Final...
Sería vano, en el exiguo espacio de esta reseña, intentar realizar un resumen ni mucho menos un a... more Sería vano, en el exiguo espacio de esta reseña, intentar realizar un resumen ni mucho menos un análisis de Transculturación narrativa en América Latina, conjunto de ensayos de uno de los más influyentes pensadores de Latinoamérica de las últimas décadas del siglo XX aparecido originalmente en 1982. No porque el libro haya “envejecido” mal: al contrario, todavía puede y podrá decirse mucho a propósito de esta obra y de la de Rama en general, así como de la de coétaneos suyos como Antonio Cornejo Polar y Antônio Cândido. Este trío de “tenores” de los estudios latinoamericanos sigue inspirando a un buen número de críticos literarios y culturales actuales, aunque quizá menos de lo que sería de desear, quizá porque han sido poco traducidos al inglés: en el caso de Rama, sólo La ciudad letrada y, ahora, Transculturación narrativa han gozado de este privilegio. Estos autores quizá pertenezcan a la última generación de humanistas latinoamericanos que, aun ocupándose primordialmente de aspe...
Third World Quarterly, 2021
ABSTRACT Long regarded by students of comparative politics as an important if muddled concept, ol... more ABSTRACT Long regarded by students of comparative politics as an important if muddled concept, oligarchy, as I define it, denotes modes of rule in which public office holders govern with a view to the private interests of the wealthy. The enabling condition in a democratic regime is weak institutional mechanisms of citizen representation and participation. The persistence of oligarchic modes of rule under democracy helps account for the enduring appeal of populism in Latin America. This article outlines the classical theory of oligarchy, examines the use of the concept in contemporary theories of comparative politics, describes oligarchic modes of rule in Latin America’s hierarchical market economies, offers an account of the dynamics of populist mobilisation and oligarchic modes of rule in Peru, and draws lessons from the Odebrecht corruption scandal.
International Migration Review, 1996
The tension between markets and democracy is an enduring theme in studies of Latin American polit... more The tension between markets and democracy is an enduring theme in studies of Latin American political economy.2 Early theorizing suggested a positive correlation between economic growth and the spread of democracy (Lipset, 1960: 24-63).3 Subsequent work on Latin America challenged this by interpreting the rise of bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes to be part of the distinctive developmental trajectory of Latin America (O'Donnell, 1973, 1988). However, this perspective failed to anticipate the breakdown of authoritarian rule and transitions toward more democratic regimes in the 1980s, a period marked by severe economic stagnation and declining income per capita in the region. It would appear that oscillationsbetween democracy and authoritarianism are endemic to Latin America.
Latin American Politics and Society, 2018
Scholarly attention has increasingly shifted from diminished subtypes of democracy to hybrid regi... more Scholarly attention has increasingly shifted from diminished subtypes of democracy to hybrid regimes, particularly competitive authoritarianism. Such regimes retain democracy’s formal features while failing to meet its minimum standards. When properties of distinct concepts like democracy and authoritarianism are combined, however, confusion, inaccuracy, and mischaracterization of cases may occur. By disaggregating political systems into electoral institutions, surrounding rights and freedoms, constitutionalism, and the rule of law, this article complicates the binary distinction between a midrange definition of democracy and competitive authoritarianism. A number of Andean cases are found to fall on the spectrum of defective democracies between these categories. Defective democracies break down when rulers violate the conditions necessary for institutionalized alternation in power by means of public participation and loyal opposition in an electoral regime. Given leaders’ reliance ...
New Institutions for Participatory Democracy in Latin America, 2012
A remarkable transformation has swept Latin America. During the last three decades, in country af... more A remarkable transformation has swept Latin America. During the last three decades, in country after country, authoritarian governments have given way to democratically elected ones. Moreover, there are signs, especially in the last decade, that some democratic institutions are themselves being refashioned; institutions of direct, popular participation are emerging that are quite different from the elected, representative institutions normally associated with democracy in Western Europe and North America.’ These new forms of popular political participation are giving voice to groups that are often not heard in the elections, or through the parties that are at the heart of representative democracy. They are far more institutionalized than many of the traditional ways through which the excluded project their concerns and demands, such as public hearings, petitions, sit-ins, demonstrations, strikes, and land seizures. These new forms of voice allow for the inclusion of not only legitimate but also frequently marginalized perspectives. They also encourage more deliberation among the citizenry and between the citizenry and elected officials.
Report on the Americas, 1993
UNTIL ITS RECENT EMBRACE OF FREE TRADE and market-oriented reform, Mexico was a paragon of nation... more UNTIL ITS RECENT EMBRACE OF FREE TRADE and market-oriented reform, Mexico was a paragon of nationalism and inward-oriented development. The Mexican state created a framework for capitalist develop-ment in which the demands of the working class were co-opted ...
Comp Polit Stud, 1992
Under what conditions is the threat of resignation a powerful bargaining instrument? This article... more Under what conditions is the threat of resignation a powerful bargaining instrument? This article draws on the theory of games to show how the ranking of actor preferences and the assignment of rules concerning the decision-making process to strategic interaction can generate games that allow us to explain bargaining outcomes. A major limitation of game theory, however, is that it
Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Revue Canadienne Des Etudes Latino Americaines Et Caraibes, 2007
NACLA Report on the Americas, 2010
18 C anada congratulates the honduran people.” With these words, Canada’s minister of state for f... more 18 C anada congratulates the honduran people.” With these words, Canada’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Peter Kent, effectively endorsed the outcome of the November 29 Honduran presidential election. The following month, in a statement on the inauguration of Porfirio Lobo, a conservative from the National Party, Kent reiterated his congratulations. “I am confident,” he said of Lobo, “that he will provide the strong political leadership needed to help Honduras move beyond its lengthy political impasse.” Kent expressed disappointment that the San José– Tegucigalpa Accord—brokered between de facto government of Roberto Micheletti and ousted president Manuel Zelaya under the auspices of Óscar Arias, president of Costa Rica, and the U.S. State Department—had not been “fully implemented.” But he promised that Canada would support efforts to “reintegrate Honduras” into the Organization of American States (OAS) once that nation had returned to “full democratic and constitutional order.” The suggestion that the Tegucigalpa–San José Accord had not been “fully implemented” took diplomatic euphemism into the realm of theater of the absurd. The accord called for a government of national reconciliation, which was never formed. It called for the accreditation of international observers, yet the OAS could not send an electoral-observation mission without the invitation of both the Zelaya and Micheletti camps (which it never received). And it called for a vote in Congress to decide whether to restore Zelaya to executive power but, fatally, did not set a deadline. The vote was held after the election, and, in a slap in the face to the OAS, the Congress ratified Zelaya’s removal from office. The only significant component of the accord that seemed as if it might be implemented was the appointment of a truth commission by the Lobo administration. Faced with what might better be described as the complete failure of the accord, the international community faced a stark choice indeed. Normalizing relations with Honduras meant, in effect, accepting that caretaker coups A Diplomatic Theater of the Absurd: Canada, the OAS, and the Honduran Coup
Convergencia Revista De Ciencias Sociales, 2007
Hay poca evidencia de una crisis de la democracia electoral en América Latina, sin embargo muchos... more Hay poca evidencia de una crisis de la democracia electoral en América Latina, sin embargo muchos regímenes democráticos de la región son inestables. Recientemente, las democracias latinoamericanas han sido amenazadas más por las acciones inconstitucionales e ilegales de líderes elegidos democráticamente que por intentos de golpe de Estado o fraude sistemático electoral. La separación de poderes es a veces violada en forma sutil sin que interrumpa necesariamente la democracia electoral. Tales amenazas han sido inadecuadamente teorizadas en la literatura. Un esfuerzo por teorizar la separación de poderes podría ayudar a la comunidad internacional a vigilar el progreso o la erosión de la democracia en el hemisferio occidental. La agenda propuesta para la evaluación de la democracia está alineada con el argumento de que las instituciones electorales de la democracia requieren un Estado de derecho capaz de respaldar los derechos y las libertades fundamentales de todos los ciudadanos, sin lo cual las democracias latinoamericanas enfrentarían un déficit de ciudadanía insuper able
Convergencia Revista De Ciencias Sociales, 2007
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Papers by Maxwell A. Cameron