Democratic Institutions in Guatemala

Democratic Institutions in Guatemala: Theory and Practice advances knowledge about Guatemala's democracy by embedding the country in recent conceptual and theoretical work in comparative politics. This volume sheds light upon the stubborn realities and challenges afflicting Guatemalan democracy during the post Peace Accords era. Each chapter delves into the main democratic institutions, informal practices, and players shaping the operative political game: elections, Congress, the Judiciary, the high courts, presidentialism, criminal actors, political parties, the political left and political right, and the peak business association CACIF. This book seeks to escape the perils of parochialism by placing the country within larger scholarly debates and paradigms.

“Sanchez-Sibony’s important collection provides a comprehensive and penetrating analysis that looks beneath Guatemala’s democratic surface and reveals the entrenched clout of various informal, collusive, and even criminal networks. By assessing Guatemala’s main actors and institutions from broader theoretical perspectives, the volume takes a big step toward finally including this interesting country case in the comparative study of Latin American politics. Highly recommended!”

“After more than two decades of elections, why does Guatemalan democracy remain shallow and ineffectual? This rich volume brings together a wide range of leading scholars to explore the roles of political culture, inequality, weak institutions, party instability, organized crime, and state capture, among other factors. Their analysis is both deeply contextual and comparative, drawing on general theories to better understand the Guatemalan case. This is a vital, sobering contribution that reminds us that so much of Guatemalan politics is characterized by continuity even at this hopeful moment of change.”

Omar Sanchez-Sibony is professor of political science at Texas State University.

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