Political Institutions

LAPIS Section Business Meeting, LASA 2024 (Bogota)

Report on the status of the section:

Members: 104

Sponsored panels: 2

Budget: US$ 3,778,78

Sponsored Panels in 2024:

- Author meets critics: Undermining the state from within (winner of the 2023 Donna Lee Van Cott Award)

- Author meets critics: Resisting Backsliding (winner of the 2022 Donna Lee Van Cott Award)

- Old and Emerging Threats to Democracy in Latin America

Awards:

The award committees were composed of the following LAPIS members:

Donna Lee Van Cott Award Committee:

Virginia Oliveros (Chair), Laura Gamboa, Calla Hummel

LAPIS Best Paper Award Committee:

Andrés Schipani (Chair), Cecilia Rossel, Brian Palmer-Rubin

The winners were:

- Winner of the 2023 Donna Lee Van Cott Award: Undermining the state from within, by Rachel Schwartz

Undermining the State from Within is fascinating, important, and novel. Rachel Schwartz’s fantastic book studies the long-lasting effects of civil wars on political institutions and political and economic development in Central America. The book convincingly shows how counterinsurgent actors use the excuse of combating insurgency threats to create alternative rules within state institutions, that undermine the state in areas as diverse as tax collection, public security, and property administration long after a conflict formally ends. The argument flips the conventional wisdom on war and state building by arguing that war can undermine state structures rather than enhance them. Leveraging the case of Guatemala, an unlikely and understudied case of state building, the book rests on truly impressive archival fieldwork and hard-to-get elite interviews and is full of compelling stories with rich detail, which makes the book a delight to read. Schwartz’ argument makes a significant contribution to the literature on civil war, post-conflict states, state building, and institutional change. The book also speaks to the more specific literature on Central America and the factors behind the region’s pervasive state “incapacity.” This is an important contribution that will be cited and read widely for years to come. Put simply, an extraordinary book.

- Honorable mention: Courts that matter, by Sandra Botero

In Courts that Matter, Sandra Botero poses important questions in judicial politics: Under what conditions can courts in the Global South produce political and social change? Why do some rulings have higher impact than others? The answer relies on the “particular synergy” that can be produced when court-promoted oversight mechanisms encounter civil society engagement creating “collaborative oversight arenas” and enhancing impact. Botero carefully and methodically develops this argument through eight paired case studies of socioeconomic rights rulings by the Colombian and Argentine highest courts, combining within-case process tracing with a cross-case comparison. Her novel definition of judicial impact separates immediate effects from effectiveness, which allows Botero to build a nuanced and creative argument of the drivers of judicial impact that focuses not only on what happens inside the court (i.e. monitoring mechanisms) but also what happens outside of it (i.e. legal constituencies). Botero’s conceptual and methodological precision is also particularly impressive—her book is a masterclass on research design.

- Honorable mention: Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America: the Case of Lava Jato, by Ezequiel Gonzáles-Ocantos, Paula Muñoz, Nara Pavao, and Viviana Baraybar Hidalgo

In Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America, Ezequiel Gonzáles-Ocantos, Paula Muñoz, Nara Pavao, and Viviana Baraybar Hidalgo use the case of Lava Jato—a watershed event in Latin America— as the backdrop to tackle two important questions: Under what circumstances do we see “zealous” prosecutorial efforts? And what is the effect of these efforts? Through an impressive, multi-method approach, Prosecutors provides a systematic and rigorous study of the Lava Jato prosecutions —a bribery case that started in Brazil and spread throughout Latin America—to show why investigations gain momentum in some countries but not others. Institutional reforms that enhanced prosecutors’ capacity alongside with the creation of aggressive taskforces, they argue, were key to transform the Lava Jato prosecutions into anti-corruption crusades. The authors bring in data on public opinion to demonstrate the effects of these campaigns and show that corruption prosecutions only build trust in the state under a narrow set of circumstances. The authors developed this original argument with the Brazilian case and test it in Peru, Argentina, and Ecuador, clearly separating theory building from theory testing—a methodological must rarely seen in practice. The book is truly mixed methods: it uses qualitative and quantitative methods to assess different parts of their argument in an elegant and convincing manner. The book also marshals a truly impressive amount of data: elite interviews, voter focus groups, and surveys and survey experiments with voters. Prosecutors is also beautifully written, which makes it an absolute pleasure to read.

- Winner of the 2023 LAPIS Best paper Award: Dependent Elites: The Role of Elite-Citizenship Linkages in Inequality Reduction at the City Level, by Silvia Otero

Silvia Otero-Bahamón's paper, "Dependent Elites: The Role of Elite-Citizenship Linkages in Inequality Reduction at the City Level", addresses an important question of our time: the determinants of inequality, through an original lens—why do some cities reduce income inequality while others do not? By focusing on two major Colombian cities, Barranquilla and Cartagena, Otero-Bahamón explores how local economic elites' dependence on the local market influences their commitment to inclusive labor markets. Her argument is that when business leaders rely on selling goods and services to the local market, their economic wellbeing is inevitably tied to the employment prospects of city inhabitants, leading them to promote more inclusive labor markets. Conversely, when economic elites do not depend on local consumption, they are less inclined to promote such inclusivity. The study employs a rigorous comparative analysis, demonstrating that Barranquilla's elites, who are more reliant on local consumption, have fostered public policies at the local level that produced inclusive labor markets with lower income inequality. In contrast, Cartagena's elites, detached from local economic dynamics, have not prioritized policies that promote inclusivity, resulting in stagnated inequality levels.

One of the strengths of the paper is its comprehensive methodological approach. Otero-Bahamón skillfully combines qualitative and quantitative methods, including quantitative analysis to study the determinants of inequality in the two cities and rule out alternative explanations, as well as interviews with local actors that allow her to test her hypothesis. Her qualitative evidence shows how elites whose economic success depends on local markets lobbied for inclusive local policies, such as investment in large infrastructure projects or providing public utilities to poor neighborhoods. The paper's theoretical originality lies in linking elite interests to specific types of public investment and their impact on inequality reduction at the local level. The paper's most important contribution is how it integrates three literatures—subnational politics, inequality, and labor policies—that are not often combined in empirical analysis. This integration provides a fresh perspective for studying the determinants of inequality at the local level.

- Honorable mention: Can Anti-Corruption Policies Curb Political Budget Cycles? Evidence from Public Employment in Brazil, Guillermo Toral

Guillermo Toral's paper, "Can Anti-Corruption Policies Curb Political Budget Cycles? Evidence from Public Employment in Brazil", explores the unintended consequences of measures to mitigate political cycles. The study addresses a significant gap in the literature by examining how legal constraints designed to curb electoral manipulation may displace and even exacerbate these cycles. Through the use of monthly panel data of public employment in Brazilian municipalities, Toral demonstrates that, despite the legal ban on hiring during election periods, governments can adeptly circumvent these restrictions by strategically timing their hiring practices. This results in a surge of employment actions in the periods immediately preceding and following the official freeze, indicating that the constraints shift rather than eliminate political manipulation.

One of the paper's key strengths is its rigorous methodological approach, combining quantitative analysis of administrative data that spans over a period of 20 years, with the exploitation of randomly assigned audits on municipalities and exogenously determined variation in legislature size. This quasi-experimental design improves on previous studies that rely mostly on endogenous covariates, allowing Toral to identify the causal effects of context on cycles. The paper's theoretical contribution lies in linking electoral incentives, legal constraints, and public employment practices in a novel way. Toral's findings have important implications for policymakers, forcing them to rethink the way anti-corruption measures are designed and to incorporate the strategic response by politicians into more comprehensive strategies aimed at reducing fiscally irresponsible practices.

New EC: 2024-2026

• Chair: Laura Gamboa
• Secretary: Mateo Villamizar Chaparro
• Tresurer: Juan Albarracín Dierolf
• EC Members: Rachel Schwarts y Nicolás de la Cerda.

New ECs working plan:

With a distinguished track record and significant contributions to the field of social sciences within LASA, LAPIS has solidified its position as one of the most visible sections. The previous LAPIS executive committees have fostered high-quality sponsored panels and showcased the work of young scholars through awards like the DLVC and the Best Paper Award. Our aim is to build upon this legacy, leveraging LAPIS' recognition and resources to enhance section visibility, promote member work, and boost conference attendance. We are committed to working towards further strengthening LAPIS's standing as an influential voice in the LASA social sciences landscape.

LAPIS Section Business Meeting, LASA 2023 (Vancouver)

Prepared by Brian Palmer-Rubin (Secretary) and Rodrigo Barrenechea (Chair)

May 26, 2023

12 People attended

• Election of Secretary and Treasurer

o EC members Brian Palmer-Rubin were elected as Secretary and Silvia Otero was elected as Treasurer until 2024.

• Budget

o $1110 left

o Reception was most important item, expensive: $1920

• Membership

o Membership has declined 143 (2021) to 111 (2023)

o Discussion of potential causes:

• Change to all access model;
• Lessened pressure to get panels accepted
• Smaller pool for emails: only sent to existing members

• Charlemos

o Initiative during pandemic to sustain scholarly exchange; collaboration with Univ. of Pittsburgh, sponsored by LAPIS.

o LAPIS no longer able to fund coordinator given expenses for in-person meeting. EC will reach out to evaluate other forms of collaboration.

o Could continue panel with winners of Best Paper and Best Book awards.

o One option: ask LASA to host meetings on Maestro.

• Sponsored Panels

o This year: one panel + 2 round tables

o New round table model: discussion among past winners of best book award about important issues in Latin American institutions

o Proposal: hold this round table every 3 years

o Proposal: one sponsored panel Author Meets Critics with past/present year’s Best Book Award winner. Potential inclusion of editorial houses.

• Decision to present current year’s winner—include this panel in call for submissions.

o Ideas for other panel: Democratic Backsliding; IR; Challenges of the New Left; inequality; deinstitutionalization, institutional crisis; accountability, judiciary

• Decision: Mechanics of Institutional Crisis in Latin America

• Virtual seminars or joint sessions with ECPR: subnational elections and populism

o Members of ECPR reached out for potential collaboration with LAPIS. EC will explore ways of collaborating.

• Awards

o Donna Lee Van Cott Best Book Award (committee: González, Oliveros, Trejo)

• Winner: Gamboa, Resisting Backsliding: Opposition Strategies Against the Erosion of Democracy
• Honorable mention: Hummel, Why Informal Workers Organize

o Best Paper award committee: Palmer-Rubin, Piniero, Schenoni

• Winner: Schipani, “Segmented Retrenchment: The Politics of Welfare Cuts in Developing Countries.”

Section Business Meeting Report

Political Institutions and Processes Section (LAPIS)

2022 Congress of the Latin American Studies Association

Memo written by Jennifer Cyr (Section Chair)

On Friday, May 6, 2022, at 18:00 (PT), the Political Institutions and Processes (LAPIS) Section of LASA met for its annual business meeting. A total of ten people participated. The meeting informed members of our activities over the past year.

At the meeting, we first provided an update on our section’s finances and membership numbers. Then we informed members of our principal activity for the year: the founding and organization of ¡Charlemos!, a virtual presentation series designed to get scholars talking about their latest research in an informative and also informal format. We agreed to continue working on ¡Charlemos! in the year to come.

We also discussed the new membership status offered by LASA, that of the “amigos” de LASA. We discussed ways to potentially recruit new members—especially junior scholars and graduate students—using this new status.

Awards:

We then announced three awards.

The first award was the Donna Lee Van Cott Book Award for the best book on political institutions in 2020, and it was awarded to Sandra Ley (CIDE-Mexico) and Guillermo Trejo (University of Notre Dame) for their book, Votes, Drugs, and Violence. The Political Logic of Criminal Wars in Mexico. The jury that chose her book included Sara Niedzweicki and Santiago Anria.

The second award was the Donna Lee Van Cott Book Award for the best book on political institutions in 2021, and it was co-awarded to two different individuals: Virginia Oliveros (Tulane University), for her book, Patronage at Work: Public Jobs and Political Services in Argentina, and Yanilda González (Harvard University), Authoritarian Police in Democracy: Contested Security in Latin America. The jury that chose her book included Katherine Bersch and Tomas Dosek.

Finally, the third award was from the 2021 LASA Congress, for the best paper presented at the conference on political institutions. The award was presented to Brian Palmer-Rubin, Daniel Berliner, Aaron Erlich, and Benjamin Bagozzi for their paper, entitled “Accountability in Time: Gradual Change in Access-to-Information Institutions.” The jury that unanimously chose his paper included Paula Muñoz, Cecilia Rossel, and Fabrizio Scrollini.

Board:

Our last item of business was to thank and acknowledge the hard work of the three LAPIS EC members who would be stepping down at the end of the Congress. These included Gisela Sin (EC member), Rodrigo Barrenechea (EC member), and Jennifer Cyr (Section Chair). We also welcomed the three incoming members. (Because we only received three nominations, we agreed unanimously to welcome them rather than have a formal vote.) These three new members include Rodrigo Barrenechea (Section Chair), Hernán Flom, and Luis Schenoni.

Barrenechea then introduced himself and spoke about his goals for the section moving forward. He proposed three ideas: first, organizing a roundtable once every 3 years of previous book and paper award winners to discuss the state of political institutions in the region; second, a large reception at the next in-person conference to increase visibility and promote growth; and, third, establishing procedures for certain tasks (e.g., assigning members to award committees) to better institutionalize them.

Section Business Meeting Report 2020

Political Institutions and Processes Section (LAPIS)

By Jennifer Cyr (Section Chair)

• Business Meeting:

On Friday, May 15, 2020, at 17h30, the Political Institutions and Processes (LAPIS) Section of LASA met for its annual business meeting. A total of sixteen people participated. The meeting served as a sort of re-launch of the section. Our goal was to discuss new activities and review section awards, as well as introduce a new award.

Toward that end, at that meeting we introduced the Executive Council, to serve the 2020-21 year. We provided an update on our section’s finances and membership numbers. We announced a new award—we will be granting two travel grants at $500 each for the next Congress. In discussions with members, we decided to grant three travel grants for the next meeting.

• New ideas:

We also brainstormed new ideas to support current members and recruit new ones. We discussed the possibility of organizing a series of (virtual) presentations on issues related to political institutions in Latin America. We discussed updating the website and working with other like sections in other organizations on collaborative projects. We are hoping to move forward on these three action items in the year to come.

• Awards:

We announced two awards. The first award was from the 2017-2018 cycle. The Donna Lee Van Cott Book Award for the best book on political institutions in 2017-18 was awarded to Alisha Holland (Harvard University) for her book, Forbearance as Retribution: The Politics of Informal Welfare in Latin America. The jury that unanimously chose her book included Tiffany Barnes, John Polga-Hecimovich, and Peter Siavelis.

The second award was from the 2019 LASA Congress for the best paper presented at the conference on political institutions. The award was presented to Luis Schenoni (University of Notre Dame) for his paper, entitled “Bringing War Back In: Victory and State Formation in Latin America.” The jury that unanimously chose his paper included Rodrigo Barrenechea, Andrés Mejía Acosta, and Gisela Sin.