Enforcing the Rule of Law: Social Accountability in the New Latin American Democracies

Reports of scandal and corruption have led to the downfall of numerous political leaders in Latin America in recent years. What conditions have developed that allow for the exposure of wrongdoing and the accountability of leaders? Enforcing the Rule of Law examines how elected officials in Latin American democracies have come under scrutiny from new forms of political control, and how these social accountability mechanisms have been successful in counteracting corruption and the limitations of established institutions.

This volume reveals how legal claims, media interventions, civic organizations, citizen committees, electoral observation panels, and other watchdog groups have become effective tools for monitoring political authorities. Their actions have been instrumental in exposing government crime, bringing new issues to the public agenda, and influencing or even reversing policy decisions.

Enforcing the Rule of Law presents compelling accounts of the emergence of civic action movements and their increasing political influence in Latin America, and sheds new light on the state of democracy in the region.

Enrique Peruzzotti is professor in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires. He is coeditor, with Catalina Smulovitz, of Controlando la Politica: Ciudadanos y Medios en las? Nuevas Democracias Latino Americanas. He has published articles in numerous journals including Journal of Democracy, Journal of Latin American Studies, and Constellations.

Catalina Smulovitz is director of the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires. She is the author of Oposicion y Gobierno. Los Anos de Frondizi. Her articles have appeared in La Nueva Matriz Politica Argentina, Journal of Democracy, Desarrollo Economico, and Agora.