Another lost decade? The future of reform in Latin America

The 1990s ended equivocally in Latin America. What has gone wrong? Is economic failure the cause or the consequence of the democratic decay and the erosion of governance throughout the region? The review essay revisits the debate on the intricate links between politics and economics in the second stage of reform. Moving beyond standard typologies of regime type, it explores the interactions between the quality of democratic governance and the performance of economic policy under democratic auspices, in particular its credibility. It is now amply recognized that reforms have been hindered by inefficient unreliable and unaccountable government institutions. Furthermore, the manner in which market reforms have been implemented has undermined governance and accountability. The importance of policy credibility has essentially been neglected as a pivotal condition for effective economic reform. Consequently, policymakers propose a new round of reforms, centring on strengthening the institutions of governance and modifying the incentives shaping public policy. The essay argues that restoring the credibility of policy requires a fundamental redefinition of the state and reforming the methods of government and the styles of policymaking. The defining challenge of Latin American countries is to strengthen capacity to adequately implement policy and credibly commit to policy reform. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Resurgent Presidency? Portuguese Semi-Presidentialism and the 2016 Elections

This article analyses the Portuguese presidential elections of January 2016, setting these within the backdrop of recent semi-presidential practice in Portugal. The election took place in the context of an apparent hollowing of the presidency, a pattern that potentially reflects the bailout that marked most of the second term of the outgoing president, Cavaco Silva. This pattern also helps explain the second-order nature of this presidential election. Despite potentially being an ‘open’ election – in that the incumbent had reached term limits – the election was characterised by low citizen mobilisation, low partisan involvement and low competitiveness. The initial two months of the newly elected president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, suggests he is seeking to invert this hollowing pattern by mobilising popular support behind the presidency.     

The political economy of mass privatisation and imperfect taxation: Winners and loosers

This article investigates the connection between the apparently uncorrelated issues of tax evasion and privatisation in a political economy framework. We first consider how the political process – given a country's level of development and income distribution – will affect the efficiency of the tax system. We then discuss the impact of the efficiency of the taxation system on the outcomes of privatisation. We consider under which condition privatisation will proceed, and who will be the political supporters as well as the main winners of the privatisation process. Moreover, we investigate the impact of different forms of corruption both on the initial public support for privatisation, as well as on its long term political sustainability.     

A Comparison of Dependent and Self-Critically Depressed Hospitalized Adolescents

One hundred ninety-four hospitalized adolescents were administered the Adolescent Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ-A). The DEQ-A factors (dependency, self-criticism) correlated well with independent measures of depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, and suicide risk. After controlling for depression, self-criticism and dependency showed differential associations with hopelessness, violence potential, and impulsivity. A subgroup of 84 inpatients identified as either highly self-critical or highly dependent based on the DEQ-A was also compared for differences in personality and symptomatic behavior. Self-critical and dependent patients exhibited equally high levels of depression, hopelessness, suicidality, and low self-esteem. Few differences were observed in personality or symptomatic behavior between the two groups. These findings, while extending previous research that relied on community samples of young adults, provide only mixed support for a distinction between these two categories of depression.