Can Colombia cope?

Journal of Democracy

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 1999, Pages

  Hoskin, Gary ^a,b   Murillo, Gabriel ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO   (United States)

^b UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES   (Colombia)

^c NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042852227     PISSN: 10455736     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (20)

1. A 1968 constitutional reform included a provision in Article 120 that stipulated that the party receiving the second highest number of votes in presidential elections would be entitled to "an adequate and equitable" representation in the executive branch of the national government. This provision, which was eliminated in the 1991 Constitution, had the effect of prolonging an aspect of the National Front until the Barco administration (1986-90).
2. For the classic analysis of the National Front period, see Jonathan Hartlyn, The Politics of Coalition Rule in Colombia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
3. Carlos Augusto Noriega, Fraude en la elección de Pastrana Borrero (Santafé de Bogotá: Editorial La Oveja Negra, 1998). Noriega was President Carlos Lleras's Minister of Government responsible for overseeing the election.
4. Guillermo O'Donnell, "Delegative Democracy," Journal of Democracy 5 (January 1994): 56-69.
5. The Turbay government (1978-82) supposedly corresponded to what was then called the dismantling of the National Front. However, analysts now refer to the period between 1974 and 1990 as the desmonte. We shall utilize the latter interpretation in this article.
6. For a detailed analysis of the decentralization process in Colombia, see John Dugas, et al., Por los Caminos de la Decentralización: Diversidad y Retos de al Transformación Municipal (Santafé de Bogotá: University of the Andes, 1995), 5-55.
7. John Dugas and Manuel Jose Cepeda have written the most complete analyses of this extraordinary constitutional reform process. See John Dugas, La Consitución de 1991: Un Pacto Político Viable? (Santafé de Bogotá: University of the Andes, 1993), and Manuel Jose Cepeda, "La Asamblea Constituyente de Colombia y el Nacimiento de una Nueva Democracia," paper presented at the Fifth Annual Conference on Elections (San Jose de Costa Rica: CAPEL, 1991).
8. John Dugas and Manuel Jose Cepeda have written the most complete analyses of this extraordinary constitutional reform process. See John Dugas, La Consitución de 1991: Un Pacto Político Viable? (Santafé de Bogotá: University of the Andes, 1993), and Manuel Jose Cepeda, "La Asamblea Constituyente de Colombia y el Nacimiento de una Nueva Democracia," paper presented at the Fifth Annual Conference on Elections (San Jose de Costa Rica: CAPEL, 1991).
9. For a superb discussion of the concept of the progressive forces of democracy, see Philippe Schmitter, "Democratic Dangers and Dilemmas," Journal of Democracy 5 (April 1994): 57-74.
10. See Luis Javier Orjuela, "La Economía Política de la Reforma del Estado Colombiana," in Dos Aproximaciones a la Reforma del Estado en Colombia (Santafé de Bogotá: University of the Andes, 1995), 5-55.
11. For an overview of the Colombian electoral process during the early 1990s, see Gabriel Murillo and Juliana Mejia, "Elecciones en Colombia 1992-96," in Juan Rial and Daniel Zovatto, eds., Urnas y Desencanto Político: Elecciones y Democracia en América Latina (San Jose de Costa Rica: IIDH/CAPEL, 1998), 373-88.
12. For an excellent analysis of these events, see Francisco Leal Buitrago, ed., Tras las Huellas de la Crisis (Santafé de Bogotá: Tercer Mundo Editores, 1996).
13. In 1997, the richest 20 percent of the population received 54 percent of the national income while the poorest 20 percent received only 6 percent. Fedesarrollo y Instituto Ser, Coyuntura Social 17 (November 1997): 42.
14. El Tiempo (Santafé de Bogotá), 26 October 1997.
15. For a theoretical analysis of presidentialism, along with case studies, see Juan Linz and Arturo Valenzuela, eds., The Failure of Presidential Democracy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994) and Scott Mainwaring and Matthew Sobert Shugart, eds., Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
16. For a theoretical analysis of presidentialism, along with case studies, see Juan Linz and Arturo Valenzuela, eds., The Failure of Presidential Democracy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994) and Scott Mainwaring and Matthew Sobert Shugart, eds., Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
17. El Tiempo (Santafé de Bogotá), 11 October 1998, 5A.
18. El Tiempo (Santafé de Bogotá), 8 November 1998, 8A.
19. Data derived from the following sources: Comisión Intercongresional de Justicia y Paz, el CINEP, Policía Nacional, El Comité Permanente para la Defensa de Derechos Humanos, Jaime Torres, et al., and Javier Giraldo.
20. Ibid.