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This study seeks to advance our understanding of policy failures as the nexus of politics and bureaucratic failure. In doing so, it presents a typology to illustrate different types of policy failures by the degree of bureaucratic capacities and politics/political incentives involved in a policy problem, and explores two cases of such failures in South Korea. This study claims that policy failures are joint products of political and bureaucratic failures to varying degrees and that the discussion of both sides helps to enhance accountability and avoid political blame games and bureau-bashing. This study reflects on two Korean cases to demonstrate politically-driven and administratively-driven failures in the high- and low-capacity bureaucracy and their consequences. These cases also reveal the dynamic nature of policy failures moving from one category to another during the policy processes. The first case concerns the failure in emergency response of the Korea Coast Guard (KCG) during and after the sinking of the ferry MV Sewol. A low bureaucratic capacity and lack of motivation to fulfill their function may be the direct cause of the failure, which will be the focus of the discussion of bureaucratic failure. Yet, it also reveals aspects of political failures before and after the accident, where politicians have failed to provide a bureaucratic agency with autonomy and stacked the deck against a less salient agency for political or electoral gains. The second case discusses the politics of preliminary feasibility studies (PFS) required for major public projects. This case explores policy failures uniquely manifested in a highly capable bureaucracy, which shows how politics-laden issues plant the seeds of policy failures driven by the prompt implementation of flawed decisions. The discussion section further discusses key arguments and implications drawn from the case studies. The final section offers concluding thoughts and avenues for future research.

This article introduces readers to the Lobbying and Democratic Governance in Canada (LDGC) research project. We describe the project’s origins and objectives as well as the types of information within the LDGC dataset, including data gathered from one of the most comprehensive and systematic lobbying registries in the world. We then review the methodological and theoretical contributions of research that have thus far come out of the project. Finally, we consider why the LDGC data will be of interest to international scholars whose research might not normally cover Canada. First, we identify unique aspects of the LDGC data compared to data used by researchers from other countries and explain how the LDGC allows researchers to investigate some, as of yet, unanswered questions about the nature of lobbying and the role it can play in modern governance. Second, we identify similarities between the LDGC and data used in extant research and consider how scholars can use the LDGC to engage in more comparative thinking about differences and similarities in the nature and role of lobbying across political systems.

Many might argue that the prospects of a progressive politics and democratic governance that the 2011 Egyptian revolution sought to realize have completely vanished. Those revolutionary aspirations...

The current debate on the vitality of affluent democracies often cites the changing patterns of citizens’ political participation as signs of this malaise. Fewer citizens are voting, and more are turning toward contentious and more direct forms of participation. What are the consequences? I describe the participation patterns in affluent democracies and then consider whether these changes in citizen participation are linked to the quality of democratic performance. Some scholars see a more assertive public as overloading the political system or destroying collective views of politics. Others see contentious politics as giving citizens an additional and more effective method of influencing policymakers. The evidence on citizen participation comes from two waves of the International Social Survey Program. Measures of the functioning of government come from the Economist Intelligence Unit and the World Bank. The analyses show that a more active public is correlated with a better functioning government. Moreover, these relationships are stronger for protest and other forms of direct action than for voting in national elections. The results suggest that an assertive and elite-challenging public is more of a boon than a curse for democratic politics.

Students of comparative constitutional design grapple with myriad complex normative and empirical issues. Prominent among them is the relative effectiveness of different governance regimes. Concerns stemming from the perceived malfunctioning of modern democracies have intensified efforts to diagnose and rectify the supposedly proliferating ills. The seemingly solid post-1978 Chinese record of steadily managing intricate societal challenges has highlighted the possible advantages of the country’s tightly controlled top-down institutional apparatus and its potential value as a model worth broadly exploring and even embracing on a meaningful scale. This view, authoritatively and vigorously articulated by an influential and prolific political philosopher and his academic associates, has evolved to a point whereby the Chinese constitutional order and contemporary experience are portrayed as being capable of fruitfully supplanting democratic structures or, alternatively, productively revitalising them. Yet, on the whole, this remains a controversial politico-legal proposition, conceptually problematic and lacking sufficient factual support.

This study investigated the causes and effects of 2002 electoral violence in the Wannune Area of Benue State in Central Nigeria. For the proper investigation of this violent conflict, the researchers carefully analyzed primary (oral sources) and secondary sources (extant literature) to achieve objectivity, while the approach was historical, qualitative, descriptive, and analytic. The research unveils that this electoral violence was caused by the imposition of an unpopular candidate on the electorates. In the final analysis, the paper recommends the Tiv intelligentsia to discourage politics of godfatherism and advocates proper institutionalization of democracy in Tivland, Benue State, and Nigeria on a broader perspective. The work also encourages the youths, civil society groups, stakeholders, and traditional leaders to uplift Nigeria‘s fragile democracy by fighting corruption that has contributed immensely to the failure of the present democratic governance.

This paper develops a theory of how democratic governance is possible. It analyses democracy as a laminated system consisting of three interdependent levels – the political/institutional, the socia...

Changes in political, social, and economic structures in South Africa during the transition from apartheid to democratic governance in 1994 have put men and masculinity/ies under public and scholarly scrutiny. Attention has generally focused on the links between masculinity and violence, particularly among black men from low-income backgrounds, in attempts to understand the widespread levels of sexual violence throughout the country. Together, but in tension with the focus on men and violence, has been a literature that documents gender change in South Africa. This literature argues, for example, that men are embracing fatherhood and becoming more engaged in childcare. Nevertheless, such scholarship is overshadowed by a focus on men and violence. In this article, I reflect on the lives of a group of men living in contemporary Alexandra township, Johannesburg, South Africa, who are exploring what it means to be a man and the issues and challenges they face in their attempts to transition their masculine identities.

This article focuses on the political implications of behavioural public policy for democratic governance and participation. It is being argued that it is an influential case illuminating the way post-democratic practices gain global authority and redefine democracy and citizenship. The article is based on two assumptions: First, the rise and spread of behavioural public policy can only be understood as the result of global interactions. Second, behavioural experts manage to combine both political and epistemic authority. Based on randomized controlled trials as seemingly unquestionable evidence, behavioural insights are already feeding into the debate on the reasoning failures of citizens and the replacement of democracy by an epistocracy, i.e. a government of experts. While the behavioural discourse has informed critical reflections on deliberative democracy, proponents should be well aware of the post-democratic biases it has mobilized.

Some studies claim that democracy is in crisis during the current pandemic while authoritarian countries better combat COVID-19 because they face no tradeoff between freedom and health. These claims, however, are usually supported by unreliable reported data; furthermore, they often overlook an important variation in government effectiveness that is likely to interact with different political regimes. In this paper, I use as the dependent variable more reliable data, excess mortality, which is available for 152 countries, and analyze the interaction effect between regime type and government effectiveness. The results reveal that democratic countries with higher government effectiveness are likely to reduce excess mortality. Democratic countries thus need not give up freedom; they need to improve government effectiveness to combat COVID-19.

Democratic governance is under increasing scrutiny as a result of waning trust in political institutions, and a widening gap between public aspirations and government performance. The purpose of th...

Human security should not be considered as a mere academic rhetoric―it is, in fact, a political tool aimed at transforming individuals from conditions of exploitation and domination to that of political participation and accountability. This paper adopts political governance perspectives to analyze human security in Africa. It argues that without accountable democratic governance, the expressed objectives of human security would be difficult to achieve in Africa. By this focus, the paper adopts a broader view of human security, satisfying both the governance and development prerequisites of the concept, which has underpinned [in] security in Africa. The overall estimation of human security in Africa is that only a marginal improvement has been made in the region, especially over the last decade.

Bureaucratic reforms worldwide seek to improve the quality of governance. In this article, we argue that the major governance failures are political, not bureaucratic, and the first step to better governance is to recognize the underlying political causes. Using illustrations from throughout the world, we contend that political institutions fail to provide clear policy goals, rarely allocate adequate resources to deal with the scope of the problems, and do not allow the bureaucracy sufficient autonomy in implementation. Rational bureaucratic responses to these problems, in turn, create additional governance problems that could have been avoided if political institutions perform their primary functions.

En este trabajo se reflexiona sobre algunos problemas institucionales de la gobernanza democrática y sobre cuál es el tipo de democracia deseable. En el artículo se evalúa la validez del diagnóstico pesimista de algunos autores –Caplan, Brennan, van Reybrouck, Mounk– basado en causas institucionales y disfunciones sociales. Desde perspectivas distintas señalan el debilitamiento de las democracias y la desconexión de las acciones políticas partidarias de los ideales democráticos, como expresión de una pérdida de legitimidad política puesta de manifiesto por los neopopulismos, This paper reflects on some institutional problems of democratic governance and on what kind of democracy is desirable. The article assesses the validity of the pessimistic diagnosis of some authors –Caplan, Brennan, van Reybrouck, Mounk– based on institutional causes and social dysfunctions. From different perspectives they point to the weakening of democracies and the disconnection of political actions in favour of democratic ideals, as an expression of a loss of political legitimacy manifested by neo-populisms

The ‘gentrification’ of Niccolo Machiavelli There is an ongoing debate on the nature and relevance of the political work of Niccolo Machiavelli. This debate has always been deeply influenced by the ideological spirit of the time. In our time Machiavelli is reinterpreted again. His ideas seem to be being cleaned up, sanitized from the unpleasant and objectionable aspects that for a long time were considered almost proverbial. In current historiography Machiavelli is widely seen as a precursor of republican, even democratic governance. On the basis of a review of prominent recent studies into his life and work, this literature essay concludes that the gentrification of Machiavelli is in full swing.

Some scholars argue that democratic countries are in crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic and authoritarian countries tend to combat COVID-19. However, these studies are usually based on reported data susceptible to manipulation and often overlook successful cases such as New Zealand and Taiwan, which are considered to have higher levels of government effectiveness. Using excess mortality data from 78 countries, this study analyzed the impact of government effectiveness and its relationship with political regimes. The results revealed that democratic countries with higher government effectiveness can reduce COVID-19 excess mortality. This study suggests that democratic countries need not give up freedom and need to improve government effectiveness to combat COVID-19.

A difusão e a proliferação do Orçamento Participativo (OP) pelos diferentes países e continentes do mundo vêm suscitando o enfrentamento de diversos desafios relacionados à governança democrática, como o compartilhamento do poder político; a promoção de inclusão política; e o aprendizado social e institucional. Diante disso, o artigo visa analisar dois casos distintos de Orçamentos Participativos (OPs) – Araraquara-SP (Brasil) e Cascais (Portugal) – observando em que medida estão enfrentando esses e outros desafios a partir de dimensões como a competência decisória, os recursos, as regras institucionais, os espaços de participação, o uso de tecnologias digitais, o número e o perfil dos participantes, as medidas voltadas para o aprendizado, e a sua inserção em um sistema mais amplo de participação. As diferenças encontradas entre os dois casos estão relacionadas aos respectivos contextos políticos e sociais e às diferentes trajetórias e propósitos dos OPs nos dois países.

Sustaining democratic governance is a philosophy hinged largely on the functionality of the institutions of governance in line with democratic process and norms. The study established that virile democratic system is an illusion when a chunk of citizens are less concerned and disinterested in political activities of their country especially when it comes to voting. That is, a carefree attitude by the citizens towards voting is inimical and an aberration to widely celebrated modern democracy. Expectedly, political parties play a crucial role in citizens’ participation in politics, because they are mobilization forces. When political parties stimulate violence then it becomes a problem. The core interest of this study therefore is to investigate the interplay between campaign characters of political parties and low voters turn out in Nigeria. Secondary method of data collection was adopted, as published article, books and relevant reports were captured from the national dailies. This study out found that in Nigeria, political parties are liabilities rather than assets to the Nigerian Democracy, considering their attitude that encourage voters’ apathy. Indeed, failed electoral promises; ideological bareness; electoral violence, high level of indiscipline and unprincipled party defection characterizes Nigeria’s political parties and by implication stimulate among the citizens a mood of pessimism about partisan politics. As the 2019 general elections had been concluded and Nigerians continue to yearn for sustainable democratic governance, political parties should reposition themselves; by being well grounded on ethos and ideology and build confidence and trust in the electorates. Hence, there is a compelling need for Nigerian political parties to be democratic, as democracy is incontrovertibly inconceivable without virile political parties.

Democratic governance has been a central tenant of leadership development in U.S. political science departments. The discipline of political science focuses on the development of engaged citizens and responsible leaders who can have a positive impact in their communities at all levels.

This study investigates the effects of trade openness and political regimes on energy intensity, using the case of Ghana in sub‐Saharan Africa. The study adopts the Stock–Watson dynamic OLS to deal with the problems of endogeneity and serial correlation. The findings reveal that while openness reduces energy intensity, democracy increases it. The latter result can be attributed to the existence of pressure interest groups, rent‐seeking behaviour, high corruption, regulatory failures and the lack of coordination that characterize Ghana's democratic governance. Further results reveal a significant role for the price of energy in terms of reducing energy intensity.

This study questions the traditional story of the detachment and independence of expert bodies such as agencies, central banks and expert committees. It directs attention to the numerous institutional links with elected bodies and societal actors that we typify as mechanisms of stakeholder inclusion, government control and public and parliamentary scrutiny. With reference to EU examples, we illustrate that these socio-political ties of expert bodies are intensifying and attend to the normative implications of this ‘representative turn’. When expert bodies increasingly link up with societal and political actors, this can be a source of democratisation, but it can also politicise and undermine the independence of expertise. Against this background, the key question becomes how to reconcile the independence requirement of reliable expertise and the responsiveness requirement of democratic governance. We approach this question by, first, delineating a way of incorporating ideal and non-ideal concerns in normative assessment. Second, we identify the key normative challenges related to the legitimate role of experts in democracies and discuss institutional solutions to the ‘democratic-epistemic divide’ that strike a balance both between the two norms, and between ideal requirements and feasibility constraints. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/.

The terms elders and Councils of Elders (CoE) do not appear in the Constitution of Kenya 2010 (CoK), and some scholars of African politics have suggested that these institutions are at odds with the ideals of modern democratic governance and will become increasingly less relevant in future decades. Other scholars stress their continued relevance at the local level, for example through providing affordable and easily accessible forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). We define the different categories of elders and CoE and use case studies from different parts of the country to illustrate their contributions to ADR and their relationship with government officials. We find that the ‘local’ elders and CoE have a continued and positive role that gets relatively little attention in the Kenyan media, in contrast to more prominent groups that seek influence in national politics, especially in the months preceding national elections. Despite their gerontocratic and patriarchal roots, these local gr...

Migrant remittances have been linked to improving the quality of government and political accountability in the developing world. The argument is that migrants have the capacity to withhold remittances to their families when they deem that their local governments are blighted with corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency. Relatedly, migrants also empower citizens in sub-national regions by providing funds to family members who become less beholden to clientistic ties with political parties which concomitantly foster state-level corruption. Thus, relatives of migrants also become social agents who will increasingly expect better governmental performance and demand higher levels of political accountability at the sub-national level. Using data provided by the Philippine National Statistics Office and the National Statistical Coordinating Board of the Philippines (NSCB hereafter), the study provides empirical evidence that the number of migrants (by province) and the amount of remittances sent by migrants are positively associated with governmental effectiveness and higher levels of human development at the provincial level. It is also found that opportunistic shirking on the part of the sub-national governments is also not occurring, as remittances also induce provincial governments to spend more on their citizens, which will likely lead to better public goods provision. The overall findings imply that just like their counterparts from other developing countries, Filipino migrants are agents of democratic accountability.

In a classic article published in 1992, Thomas Franck wrote of an “emerging right to democratic governance” in international law. In his view, such a right implied that the acceptance of a government by other states in the international arena depended on whether the government ruled with the consent of its own people. In a later piece, published in 2000, Franck elaborated, stating that [w]hile democracy has long been a right of people in some nations, enshrined in their constitutions and traditions and enforced by their judiciary and police, this has not been true universally. That democracy is becoming an entitlement in international law and process is due in part to the very recent political reality of a burgeoning pro-democracy movement within the States that constitute the world community.

A ascensão de políticos conservadores com atitudes autoritárias, não só no Brasil, como em diversos países do mundo, pode ser parte da cultural backlash de um grupo social descontente com as recentes mudanças culturais (Norris e Inglehart 2019). Esses líderes pouco aptos ao exercício da governança democrática estão em consonância com o aumento da intolerância política. A vista disso, nosso objetivo é justamente conectar a agenda de pesquisas sobre adesão às normas democráticas e a tolerância, a fim de constatar a existência dessa relação no Brasil. Para isso, utilizamos técnicas de análise quantitativas, através do material empírico fornecido pelo Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP). Partimos da hipótese de que indivíduos que aderem mais às normas democráticas tendem a ser mais tolerantes em relação aos grupos minoritários. Dentre os resultados verificamos a existência de relação altamente significativa das variáveis testadas, isto é, os democratas tendem a tolerar mais.

Botswana has long been praised for its financial and political achievements. High economic growth rates and uninterrupted democratic governance since independence in 1966 have led to Botswana's labeling as the ‘African Miracle’. Long before Botswana's emergence as a darling of Western development agencies however, Tswana elites and colonial officials also saw Botswana as exceptional: surrounded by states divided along racial lines, these individuals sought to construct a nation organized around principles of racial and tribal unity. Aspirations of non-racialism were to be exemplified in Botswana's newly constructed capital city, Gaborone. At the same time, underlying the planning vision for Gaborone was a competing set of narratives, practices and aspirations that undercut these lofty ideals and resulted in the creation of a city highly stratified by racial segregation. This essay identifies three complementary urban planning rationales that produced urban exclusion in Gaborone: the desire to build Gaborone as an administrative capital, borrowing from both colonial and indigenous Tswana traditions that privileged spatial divisions related to status and race, and the goal to build a ‘modern’ urban center to lead Botswana into the future. These tensions divided the city in ways both familiar and unexpected and set the parameters determining who counts as a legitimate resident of the city. The paper, therefore, seeks to explore how a city founded on an ideal of racial unity instead became a site of stark division(s).

Objective We explore whether the effect of watching television on support for democracy is contingent on the type of media system. In countries with well-developed public broadcasting systems, watching television news should enhance support for democracy. In more market-oriented systems with more superficial and episodic news content, watching television news should weaken democratic attachments. Methods We utilize Wave 6 of the World Values Survey to investigate the relationship between watching television news and support for democracy in the United States, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Results Watching television news in public broadcasting systems increases the importance one places on living in a democracy and evaluations of democratic governance. Watching television news in market-oriented systems increases support for authoritarian political systems. Conclusion The effect of watching television news on democratic attitudes is contingent on media system. Public broadcasting systems enhance democratic attitudes while market-oriented systems weaken these democratic attachments.

The leading scientists debating climate change increasingly view the relationship between knowledge and governance as an “inconvenient democracy.” On the one hand, the discrepancy between the knowledge of climate change and citizens’ commitments to behavioral changes amounts to the diagnosis of an “inconvenient mind”; on the other hand, the inertia of policies to capture progress in knowledge leads to the diagnosis of “inconvenient institutions.” The sense of political ineffectiveness felt especially among climate scientists provokes a strong disenchantment with democratic governance. As a result, some scientists propose that political action based on principles of democratic governance be abandoned. In my article, I argue that such a view is mistaken.

In this working paper, I briefly look at the current state of democratic governance worldwide. I then adopt a more medium-term view and analyse the strains put by increased regulatory complexity on future democratic governance. In particular, I discuss some tools that are currently discusses as a potential response to the current challenges.

There are many ways to adapt democratic governance to the pressing challenge of climate change. This book concentrates on the ten most practical governance changes that could deliver a quick and substantial response to climate change. Some of these changes have been requested by youth movements defending the climate cause, others have been long-standing demands from a wide range of civil society organisations, many have been adjustments advocated by environmental scientists and economists during the last half-century. Some of these action points have appeared in the manifestos of political parties around the world—and not just those with a predominantly Green objective. The relevance and consensus on these ten changes have been dramatically enhanced by the covid crisis and its aspiration towards a “new world”.

In the aftermath of the end of the Cold War, the vast majority of African presidential regimes adopted the constitutional rule limiting the number of terms their chief executives could serve in office. Among other political and institutional reforms initiated at that time, this cardinal rule of democratic governance was intended to create constitutionally binding constraints on the presidents in order to move the countries past the era of “big men” that had defined Cold War politics, and anchor them on the path of democratic transition.

The study of subjective democratic legitimacy from a citizens’ perspective has become an important strand of research in political science. Echoing the well‐known distinction between ‘input‐oriented’ and ‘output‐oriented’ legitimacy, the scientific debate on this topic has coined two opposed views. Some scholars find that citizens have a strong and intrinsic preference for meaningful participation in collective decision making. But others argue, to the contrary, that citizens prefer ‘stealth democracy’ because they care mainly about the substance of decisions, but much less about the procedures leading to them. In this article, citizens’ preferences regarding democratic governance are explored, focusing on their evaluations of a public policy according to criteria related to various legitimacy dimensions, as well as on the (tense) relationship among them. Data from a population‐based conjoint experiment conducted in eight metropolitan areas in France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom is used. By analysing 5,000 respondents’ preferences for different governance arrangements, which were randomly varied with respect to their input, throughput and output quality as well as their scope of authority, light is shed on the relative importance of different aspects of democratic governance. It is found, first, that output evaluations are the most important driver for citizens’ choice of a governance arrangement; second, consistent positive effects of criteria of input and throughput legitimacy that operate largely independent of output evaluations can be discerned; and third, democratic input, but not democratic throughput, is considered somewhat more important when a governance body holds a high level of formal authority. These findings run counter to a central tenet of the ‘stealth democracy’ argument. While they indeed suggest that political actors and institutions can gain legitimacy primarily through the provision of ‘good output’, citizens’ demand for input and throughput do not seem to be conditioned by the quality of output as advocates of stealth democratic theory suggest. Democratic input and throughput remain important secondary features of democratic governance.

Subhoranjan Dasgupta, Democratic Governance and Politics of the Left in South Asia, New Delhi, Aakar Books, 2015, 272 pp., ₹695, ISBN: 978-93-5002-319-8 (Hardcover).

Are contemporary international environmental laws based on science? Do international lawmakers give due consideration to the latest findings of environmental and related sciences before promulgating environmental legislation? Do new international rule-making procedures promote what this Book calls as “Science-Based Lawmaking”? Would it be possible to delegate lawmaking powers from the so-called “political bodies” of the international institutions to the “expert bodies” of these institutions? If so, could such delegations lead to more protective regulations for our natural environment? Assuming that it would be possible to give expert bodies lawmaking powers, what would be the appropriate lawmaking procedures on the international level that would allow experts to promulgate regulations, while respecting the democratic governance requirements?

A black box in the study of representation in European democracies is our knowledge about elected but also unelected candidates. What is their background? How are they recruited? What are their campaign aims, strategies, resources and tools? How do they relate to their (constituency and central) party and their voters? How do they consider democratic governance at national and European levels? This book focuses on the triadic relationship between candidates and the other poles of the delegation and accountability triangle: political parties and voters. The chapters rely mostly on the Belgian Candidate Survey (CCS project) gathering about 2000 candidates belonging to 15 parties running for the 2014 federal and regional elections. Most conclusions do not hold only for the Belgian partitocracy but answer broad political science questions on elite recruitment, electoral strategies, personalisation, party cohesion, and descriptive and substantive representation. Its multilevel semi-open electoral system, atypical federal structure, and extreme party system fragmentation make Belgium a rich but complex case offering findings highly relevant to research on candidates in other democracies.

With the overall intention of stimulating the debate on food democracy, this thematic issue aims to shed fresh light on the complex relationship between food and democracy in different contexts. New theoretical perspectives and empirical analyses are presented that explore, sharpen, question, and expand the potential of food democracy as both, an analytical lens onto the state and development of contemporary food systems, and as a political idea for transforming the dominant agri-industrial food system. In this editorial to the thematic issue “New Perspectives on Food Democracy,” we briefly recapitulate the existing debate on food democracy, explain the goals and overarching questions of the thematic issue and provide an overview of the assembled articles.

This article critically examines the Ontario government announcing in its 2007 budget that it would increase the minimum wage incrementally, the last hike to occur in March 2010. In March 2009, Premier McGuinty met with business leaders in a private, behind closed doors meeting. News of this leaked out revealing that he stated that he might cancel the remaining increases given economic conditions. Pressed by reporters to explain his apparent flip flop, and shamed by the lack of transparency, he reversed himself again saying this: When we talk about the minimum wage, we have to ask ourselves what it is that we owe both our workers and employers. I think clearly we owe them fairness. Our commitment was to get $10.25 an hour one year from now and we will honour that commitment. This article will review the procedural fairness issues arising in this scenario including both the legal definition and the political implications for democratic governance.

This article examines the 1988 constitution of The Federative Republic of Brazil and its significance after 30 years of its implementation. Asserts some of its more advance social, political features and evaluates the current challenges to implement a democratic governance, based on a Rule of Law within the evolving constitutional framework. It also makes some comparisons between the Brazilian constitutional and political processes and other Latin American experiences, weighing whether or not Brazil started a new era of constitutional thinking in Latin America. Resumo Este artigo examina a Constituição de 1988 da República Federativa do Brasil e seu significado após 30 anos de implementação. Afirma algumas de suas características sociais e políticas mais avançadas e avalia os desafios atuais para implementar uma governança democrática, baseada em um Estado de Direito dentro da estrutura constitucional em evolução. Também faz algumas comparações entre os processos constitucionais e políticos brasileiros e outras experiências latino-americanas, avaliando se o Brasil iniciou ou não uma nova era de pensamento constitucional na América Latina.

This chapter discusses the importance of various organizational and system-level factors in explaining frame production and frame variation on the part of journalists. Even though the focus will be on the widely accepted political news frames—strategy and issue frames—the chapter will emphasize and develop guidelines about the importance of including both meso- and macro-level factors in the investigation of any type of generic news frame. The chapter first outlines the significance of political news framing for democratic governance. After that, it reviews extant literature on election news coverage in a wide range of countries, including the US, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe. It concludes by summarizing the most important media and political system factors identified in the literature and emphasizing the importance of comparative, cross-cultural research, which can shed more light on the question: What determines news frames?

Con base en una serie de revisiones analíticas de tres rondas de trabajo de campo etnográfico que se realizaron en Buenos Aires, Argentina, y un enfoque microsociológico de análisis empírico, este artículo se propone reorientar el estudio de la política clientelar hacia su carácter cotidiano y reconocer el importante papel que desempeñan los estrechos lazos que mantienen los agentes mediadores con sus seguidores más cercanos y confiables, con el fin de comprender y explicar mejor los rasgos prácticos del dominio clientelista. En contra de lo que comúnmente se afirma, este trabajo sostiene que la política clientelar tiene lugar en la rutina de la vida diaria (no sólo cuando hay campañas y elecciones) y que el comportamiento de los clientes más leales no debe entenderse y explicarse como producto de la acción racional ni de conductas normativas, sino como resultado de hábitos clientelares, es decir, un conjunto de disposiciones políticas de tipo cognitivo y afectivo, que se producen con las interacciones repetidas que ocurren en el seno de los círculos internos de los seguidores de los agentes mediadores., On the bases of a series of analytical exams of three rounds of ethnographic field-work in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and with a micro-sociological approach of empirical analysis, this article sets out to reorient the study of clienteles' politics towards its every day nature, and recognize the relevant role played by the close links mediating agents keep with their closest and most reliable followers- Thus it aims to contribute to better understand and explain the practical features of clientelist domination. Against what’s commonly asserted, this paper maintains clientelist politics takes place in daily life's routine (and not only in the context of campaigns and elections), and that the behaviour of the most loyal clients must not be understood nor explained as a product of rational action or normative conducts, but as resultant of clientelist habits, that is, a set of cognitive and affective political dispositions, produced by repeated interactions that take place within the inner circles of the followers of the mediating agents.