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Latin American Politics

Andrew Clem
Adjunct Instructor
Department of Government and International Affairs
Sweet Briar College 

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Textbook:

REQUIRED:
Howard Wiarda and Harvey Kline (eds.), Latin American Politics and Development, 6th ed. (Westview, 2006)

Students may choose to report on one or two of the recommended books listed on the syllabus (or additional books listed below) as part of their research. In addition, there will be occasional assignments of feature news stories and/or opinion-editorial pieces in the Washington Post or other newspapers or magazines. All students should read such a nationally-recognized newspaper to keep up with current events in Latin America. There will be a few current events questions on the quizzes and exams.

Announcements

Occasional announcements about class activities, information sources, world news, etc. will be posted here.

The table of country information is now semi-finished, and there are tables for each country showing the approximate distribution of political party strength in each legislative chamber.

The Latin America review sheet is now available for downloading. (PDF)

Videos

The great Mexican standoff: 2006 election (youtube.com)

Carnaval parade in Brazil (BBC)

Maps Roll over (don't click): Latin America in 2000 Latin America in 1830 Wars (international) Political violence Political rights Civil liberties Political party systems Economic freedom Gross National Income per capita Regional trade blocs Ethnicity South America: terrain and cities Central America: terrain and cities For any of the Latin America maps (NOT the South America or Central America maps), just click on any of the countries covered in this course to go to their respective sections below.

Political systems and election cycles
(Under construction)

NOTE: THE INFORMATION ON THIS TABLE IS SUBJECT TO REVISION.

* Years with asterisks indicate cases where democratization was incomplete or later experienced a brief hiatus.

** In cases where legislative terms overlap, two numbers are given: the length of the term, and the number of years between elections.

*** SMD = single-member districts; PR = proportional representation. For countries with combined electoral systems, numbers for both methods are given.

The links for Brazil and Mexico are for separate pages.

Political parties

See notes at bottom of table.

Argentina

Bolivia

Note that President Evo Morales is trying to replace the old Congress with the Constituent Assembly he helped to create.

Brazil

Chile

The 38 Senate seats are elected for eight-year terms; one-half are elected every four years. The 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies are elected for four-year terms. Note that the left-leaning parties are grouped together in the "Concertación," and the right-leaning parties form the "Alliance for Chile."

Colombia

Colombia is almost unique among Latin American countries in having a fairly stable two-party system. In recent years, however, ad hoc offshoot factions have been formed, such as the right-wing "Movement of National Salvation" in 2002.

Costa Rica

Cuba

Ecuador

Ecuador's political party system is classified as "inchoate," split into numerous small factions. A "Democratic Alliance" has emerged to unite the left-of-center factions, emulating a similar multiparty movement in Chile. Note that President Rafael Correa is trying to replace the old Congress with the Constituent Assembly he helped to create.

Guatemala

Mexico

Peru

Venezuela

The two traditional parties in Venezuela, Democratic Action and COPEI, boycotted the legislative elections of 2005, thereby ensuring that the National Assembly would be controlled by Chavez loyalists. They are shown in the following table even though they lack any legislative representation at present. The Radical Cause leftist movement that emerged in the 1990s has apparently been absorbed by the new parties allied to Chavez.

NOTE: Width of each column shows each party's approximate strength. Colors and position (left to right) represent ideological leanings, which are often vague. Numbers show how many seats each party has in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Minor parties are not shown.

SOURCE: CIA World Factbook

NOTE: The content on this Web site is intended for the exclusive use of students who are currently enrolled in this course.