1st Edition

Mounting Pressures on the Rule of Law Governability for Development and Democracy in Latin America

Edited By Jacqueline Behrend, Laurence Whitehead Copyright 2025
    318 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This important book offers an original perspective on the rule of law, development, and democracy in Latin America, establishing a new approach in recognizing the realities of political economy as opposed to merely structural and institutional factors.

    With contributions from an international team of experts, the book outlines the main challenges that have arisen in the pursuit of a developmental agenda in the region, including subnational variations, state capture by local elites, variations in state capacity, border divergence from centrally designed perspectives, environmental conflicts, uneven access to justice and the role of international organizations. In doing so, the book explores the democratic and developmental implications of conflicts over the rule of law and its application, uneven enforcement, and state capture.

    Whether a reference tool for the seasoned scholar, a guide aiding practitioner's individual expertise or an introduction to students interested in the complex intersections between the rule of law, development and democracy, this book is a must-have for any library.

    1. The rule of law, development, and democracy in Latin America: Theory and experience
    Jacqueline Behrend and Laurence Whitehead


    2. Extending legal security in the Peruvian mining sector: The formalization of informal miners 
    John Crabtree, Anna Wilson, and Aaron Quiñón Cárdenas


    3. Bureaucratic bypass as a strategy in the implementation of public policies: The case of industrial promotion in Argentina (1982–92) 
    Luis E. Karamaneff


    4. Environmental governance and participation: Mining and forest protection in Argentina 
    Lucas G. Christel and Ricardo A. Gutiérrez


    5. “Old wine in new bottles”: Technopopulism and the challenges of infrastructure provision in Latin America 
    J. Carlos Domínguez Virgen


    6. Subnational variations and the rule of law in Argentina: Political dynasties, elite turnover, and Supreme Court oversight 
    Jacqueline Behrend


    7. The effects of warring and civil oligarchs on Colombia’s subnational democracy 
    Jan Boesten and Daniel Llanos

    8. After the stealth intervention: Civil–military relations and rule of law in post-Bolsonaro Brazil 
    Karabekir Akkoyunlu and José Antonio Lima


    9. National referendums on natural resources: Are they effective for conflict resolution?
    Yanina Welp


    10. Prosecutors as rule of law gatekeepers in contemporary Latin America: A survey
    Laurence Whitehead and Susana Berruecos


    11. Mexico’s new Fiscalía General de la República: Still misfiring 
    Susana Berruecos and Laurence Whitehead


    12. Confronting extractivism: The Inter-American Human Rights System and indigenous rights in Latin America 
    Par Engstrom and Edward Pérez


    13. Sustainable development and multilateral development banks: A framework for analyzing sources of norms and decision-making in global governance 
    Vinícius G. Rodrigues Vieira


    14. Unbundling rules of law at the peripheries of Latin American states 
    Annette Idler and Laurence Whitehead

    15. Latin American state apparatuses and the rule of law
    Maxwell A. Cameron

    Index

    Biography

    Jacqueline Behrend is Professor of Comparative Politics at the School of Politics and Government of the Universidad Nacional de San Martin in Argentina, where she is also Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs, and a tenured Research Fellow at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina. She holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on subnational comparative politics. She was president of the Red Eurolatinoamericana de Gobernabilidad para el Desarrollo (RedGob) in 2022-23.

    Laurence Whitehead is a senior research fellow at Nuffield College Oxford, and Chairman of the Board of the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies. He also edits Oxford University Press’ book series on Democratization and succeeded Jacqueline Behrend as president of the Red Eurolatinoamericana de Gobernabilidad para el Desarrollo (RedGob) for 2023-24.