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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Candidate Selection In Bolivia’S Mixed-Member System: Determinants Of Candidate Selection In Bolivia’S 1993 And 1997 Legislative Elections, Miguel Centellas
Candidate Selection In Bolivia’S Mixed-Member System: Determinants Of Candidate Selection In Bolivia’S 1993 And 1997 Legislative Elections, Miguel Centellas
Miguel Centellas
Mixed-member electoral systems became a popular choice for “electoral engineers” in the 1990s. Countries as diverse as Venezuela, Hungary, Lesotho, and Italy adopted the system. The assumption was that introducing single-member districts (SMDs) in countries that used list proportional representation electoral systems would introduce “constituency” oriented legislators who could be more easily held accountable to voters. This paper explores any changes associated with the adoption of a mixed-member electoral system in Bolivia. It does so through a candidate-level analysis looking at differences in candidate profiles between two elections (1993 and 1997) and between two tiers (list and nominal) in the …
Democracy On Stilts: Bolivia's Democracy From Stability To Crisis, Miguel Centellas
Democracy On Stilts: Bolivia's Democracy From Stability To Crisis, Miguel Centellas
Miguel Centellas
Bolivia’s recent political crisis starkly contrasts to the preceding two decades of relative democratic stability. Though a unique system of “parliamentarized” presidentialism together with lingering consensus on the national project inherited from the 1952 Revolution supported democratic stability, using qualitative and quantitative methods, this study shows that seemingly benign changes in institutional design made in the 1990s contributed to the acceleration of already existing tendencies towards divisive sectoral, regional, and ethnic politics. A key observation is that successful long-term democratization requires institutions for adequately channeling and representing social demands as well as a shared vision of a political “imagined community” …