Politics and Political Elites in Latin America (eBook)

After an introductory chapter that presents the potential of the PELA database, the book is structured in two parts. The first addresses in eight chapters important aspects of representative democracy such as political ambition, political trust, satisfaction with democracy, clientelism and the quality of democracy. It then discusses three relevant issues in Latin American political dynamics such as executive-legislative relations, women's participation as representatives, and the meaning of China and the United States in national politics.

The second part addresses in five chapters studies of seven national cases that are representative of regional heterogeneity. These chapters aim to examine parliamentarian elites' attitudes in different political systems with regard to a variety of relevant issues such as institutional trust, satisfaction with democracy, Executive-Legislative relations, clientelism, and gender questions. Furthermore, these chapters intend to evince the evolution of such attitudes in the course of the last two decades.

Politics and Political Elites in Latin America: Challenges and Trends will be of interest to scholars and students of comparative politics in general and, more particularly, to those interested in the challenges faced by representative democracy not only in Latin America, but in many parts of the world.  

Manuel Alcántara Sáez is Full Professor at the University of Salamanca and member of the Instituto de Iberoamérica, Spain, and director of the Political Elites in Latin America project (PELA) at the same institution. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Universidad Complutense (Madrid). He has been visiting fellow at the Kellogg Institute and at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and visiting professor, among others, at Georgetown University, Tulane University, IHEAL in Paris, ScienPo Lille, Kobe University, FLACSO Ecuador and UPB in Medellín (Colombia). He has also been Director of the Institute of Iberoamerica at the University of Salamanca (1994-2007), general Secretary of Latin American Political Science Association (2002-09), vice Provost of International Relations of the University of Salamanca (2007-09) and Director of FLACSO Spain (2014-18). His field research concerns 'Parliament Elites in Latin America', 'Parliamentary Performance in Latin America', 'Organization and internal structure of Latin American Political Parties' and 'Professionalization of Politicians'. His most recent books include 'El oficio de político' (2020, 2nd edition) and 'Sistemas Políticos de América Latina' (2013, 4th edition) and, as (co)editor, Politics and Politicians in Latin America (2008), 'Algo más que presidentes: El papel del Poder Legislativo en América Latina' (2010), 'Elecciones y política en América Latina' (2009-2011) (2013), 'Elecciones y cambios de elites en América Latina, 2014 y 2015' (2016). 'Política y democracia: Anversos y reversos' (2016), 'Elecciones y partidos en América Latina en el cambio de ciclo' (2018), 'Presidents and Democracy in Latin America' (2018), 'América Latina vota (2017-2019)' (2020).