What determines the capacity of countries to design, approve, and implement effective public policies? To address this issue, this book builds on the results of a comparative study of political institutions, policymaking processes, and policy outcomes in eight Latin American countries. The volume benefits from both micro detail on the intricacies of policymaking in individual countries and a broad cross-country interdisciplinary analysis of the process in the region.

The country studies demonstrate a deep knowledge of the specific historical dynamics and idiosyncratic structural factors at play in each case, while focusing on the effects of political institutions as viewed through a common analytical lens founded in game theory and institutional analysis. This book should become a staple on the syllabus of any class on Latin American politics or institutional politics and important background reading in many classes on development economics.

In the past thirty years, democratic freedom and competitive electoral processes have taken hold as never before in Latin America. This book zeroes in on the intricate workings of democratic institutions (such as political party systems and the legislature), the actors that participate in democratic systems (such as governors, judges, bureaucrats, and other members of civil society), and the arenas in which political and policy interactions take place (which may be formal, such as the legislature, or informal). The focus is on how those institutions, actors, and arenas affect the policymaking processes of Latin American countries for better or worse. In its scope and complexity, the volume moves well beyond stylized views of the political systems in Latin America.