Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity: Panama's Assembly, 1984–2009 (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development) - Softcover

Guevara Mann, Carlos

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0268029830 ISBN 13: 9780268029838

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 2011

Synopsis

In Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity: Panama's Assembly, 1984–2009, Carlos Guevara Mann systematically examines the behavior of the members of Panama's Legislative Assembly between 1984 and 2009, an arena previously unexplored in studies of Panamanian politics. He challenges fundamental aspects of scholarly literature on democratic legislatures, with important consequences for understanding democratic politics in Latin America and other parts of the world. The current literature on legislatures assumes that legislators single-mindedly seek reelection or the advancement of their political careers, and that they pursue these goals through acceptable democratic means. Guevara Mann shows, however, that in Panama many legislators also pursue less laudable goals such as personal enrichment and freedom from prosecution, often reaching their goals through means―widespread clientelism, party switching, and electoral manipulation―that undermine the quality of democracy.

On one level, Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity contrasts the political behavior of individual legislators; on another, it compares the actions of legislators under various regimes―military and constitutional. Lastly, it engages in cross-national comparisons that contrast the behavior of Panamanian legislators with actions of representatives elsewhere. Guevara Mann's sophisticated analysis of the military period and the transition to democracy, with an emphasis on the history and functioning of legislative bodies, contains a wealth of new information about a neglected but intrinsically fascinating case.

About this title

About the Author

Carlos Guevara Mann is an international consultant and teaches at Florida State University, Panama.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0268029830
• ISBN 13: 9780268029838
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 277