Institutionalizing democracy: Constraint and ambition in the politics of electoral reform

Comparative Politics

Volumn 32, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 459-477

  Lehoucq, Fabrice Edouard ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0040120725     PISSN: 00104159     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/422389     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. See John A. Booth, Costa Rica: Quest for Democracy (Boulder: Westview Press, 1998);
2. Fabrice Lehoucq, Lucha electoral y sistema político en Costa Rica, 1948-1998 (San José: Editorial Porvenir, 1997);
3. Bruce Wilson, Costa Rica: Politics, Economics and Democracy (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1998);
4. Jonathan Hartlyn and Arturo Valenzuela, "Democracy in Latin America since 1930," in Leslie Bethell, ed., Latin America: Politics and Society since 1930 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 3-66;
5. John A. Peeler, Building Democracy in Latin America (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1998);
6. Jeffrey Paige, Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997);
7. Deborah J. Yashar, Demanding Democracy: Reform and Reaction in Costa Rica and Guatemala, 1870s-1950s (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997).
8. Fabrice Lehoucq, "The Institutional Foundations of Democratic Cooperation in Costa Rica," Journal of Latin American Studies, 26 (May 1996), 329-55;
9. Fabrice Lehoucq, Instituciones democráticas y conflictos políticos en Costa Rica (San José: EUNA, 1998).
10. Barbara Geddes, Politician's Dilemma: Building State Capacity in Latin America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 94-95.
11. See Iván Molina and Fabrice Lehoucq, "The Size of the Costa Rican Electorate during the Old Republic (1897-1948)" (unpublished ms., CIPEC, Indiana University, 1997).
12. After 1926 a runoff election was held when no party won an absolute majority. The threshold was lowered to 40 percent in 1936.
13. Some races during this period were not governed by proportional representation, and closed lists became necessary only after 1946. Few voters chose to vote outside of party lists before closed lists became the legal norm in 1946. See Fabrice Lehoucq, "The Origins of Democracy in Costa Rica in Comparative Perspective" (Ph.D. diss., Duke University, 1992), pp. 62-63, 71-73.
14. The president, with the support of the Permanent Commission (an agent of Congress), could also declare states of siege; until 1910 the executive typically declared states of siege during election campaigns. See Orlando Salazar Mora, "La Comisión Permanente y la suspensión del orden constitucional," Revista de Ciencias Jurídicas, 44 (May-August 1981).
15. Dana Gardner Munro, The Five Republics of Central America (New York: Russell, 1918), pp. 185-203.
16. Orlando Salazar Mora, El apogeo de la república liberal en Costa Rica, 1870-1914 (San José: EUCR, 1989), pp. 171-241.
17. Lehoucq, "The Institutional Basis of Democratic Cooperation in Costa Rica."
18. Iván Molina and Fabrice Lehoucq, "Political Competition and Electoral Fraud: A Latin American Case Study," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 30 (Autumn 1999), 199-234.
19. Rubén Hernández Valle, Derecho Electoral Costarricense (San José: Editorial Juricentro, 1990).
20. Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (New York: Harper & Row, 1957), p. 28.
21. Also see Michael Laver and Norman Schofield, Multiparty Democracy: The Politics of Coalition in Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
22. George Tsebelis, Nested Games: Rational Choice and Comparative Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), ch. 4.
23. For a representative of this approach, see Seymour Martin Lipset, "The Centrality of Political Culture," Journal of Democracy, 1 (Fall 1990);
24. Seymour Martin Lipset, Three Lectures on Democracy (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, forthcoming).
25. See Michael Hechter, Principles of Group Solidarity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), ch. 2.
26. This argument is the central message of the new institutionalism. See Tsebelis, Nested Games, ch. 4;
27. Randall L. Calvert, "The Rational Choice Theory of Social Institutions," in Jeffrey S. Banks and Eric A. Hanushek, eds., Modern Political Economy: Old Topics, New Directions (New York Cambridge University Press, 1995), 216-68;
28. Kenneth Shepsle, "Studying Institutions: Some Lessons from the Rational Choice Approach," in James Farr, John S. Dryzek, and Stephen T. Leonard, eds., Political Science in History: Research Programs and Political Traditions (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 276-95.
29. Geddes, Politician's Dilemma.
30. Fabrice Lehoucq and Iván Molina, "Los electores de segundo grado en Costa Rica: Participación política y composición social, 1890-1948" (unpublished ms., CIPEC, Indiana University, 1997).
31. Victoria Ramírez, Jorge Volio y la revolución viviente (San José: Editorial Guayacán, 1989), pp. 112-50.
32. "Proyecto (16 June 1924)," La Gaceta, 142 (June 29, 1924), 765-68.
33. Diario de Costa Rica, Mar. 6, 1927.
34. Republic of Costa Rica, Censo de población de Costa Rica, 11 de mayo de 1927 (San José: Dirección General de Estadística y Censos, 1960), pp. 54-57.
35. Molina and Lehoucq, "Political Competition and Electoral Fraud."
36. Lehoucq, "The Origins of Democracy in Costa Rica in Comparative Perspective," pp. 190-94.
37. See "Ley No. 1096 (27 August 1947)," Colección de Leyes y Decretos (San José: Imprenta Nacional, 1948).
38. Jorge Mario and Orlando Salazar Mora, Los partidos políticos en Costa Rica (San José: EUNED, 1992).
39. Interviews with Fernando Soto Harrison, secretary of the interior under Picado, in San José, February 15, 19, 1996. Also see Fernando Soto Harrison, Qué pasó en los años cuarenta (San José: EUNED, 1991).
40. Geddes, Politician's Dilemma, pp. 94-95.
41. La Tribuna, Mar. 10, 1927.
42. Diario de Costa Rica, July 4, 1925.
43. La Tribuna, July 21, 1927.
44. Fabrice Lehoucq, "Institutional Change and Political Conflict: Evaluating Alternative Explanations of Electoral Reform in Costa Rica," Electoral Studies, 14 (March 1995), 23-45.
45. Hugo Murillo Jiménez, Tinoco y los Estados Unidos: Génesis y caída de un régimen (San José: EUNED, 1981).
46. Soto Harrison, pp. 194-95.
47. "Results of Midterm Congressional Elections," Despatch No. 1600 (February 14, 1946), Livingston Watrous to Secretary of State, U.S. National Archives, DS 818.00/2-1446, p. 5.
48. See Fabrice Lehoucq and Iván Molina, "Who Won the Elections? Reinterpreting the 1948 Presidential Race in Costa Rica" (unpublished ms., CIPEC, Indiana University, 1998).
49. Lehoucq, Lucha electoral y sistema político en Costa Rica, p. 43.
50. Curiously, many contemporary critics decry the ability to appeal to national interests in presidential forms of government. See Juan Linz, "Presidential or Parliamentary Democracy: Does It Make a Difference?," in Juan J. Linz and Arturo Valenzuela, eds., The Failure of Presidential Democracy (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), pp. 6-8.
51. On the role of legislatures in retarding reforms, see Ronald P. Archer and Matthew Soberg Shugart, "The Unrealized Potential of Presidential Dominance in Colombia," in Scott Mainwaring and Matthew Soberg Shugart, eds., Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 110-59.
52. See John T. S. Keeler, "Opening the Window for Reform: Mandates, Crises, and Extraordinary Policy-Making," Comparative Political Studies, 25 (January 1993), 433-86.