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Why has Mexico's approach to achieving economic liberalization and political democracy shown consistent success over time? Mexico has managed a sustained evolution of its institutions towards economic liberalization and democracy, and the preferences of each of Mexico's presidents since Miguel de la Madrid have determined the pathway taken. Each of the last four presidents set policy agendas based on improving social capital, adopting policies of economic liberalization, eventual commitment to democracy, transparency, and a firm determination to reform and uphold the rule of law. This paper focuses on measuring the changes in Mexico's formal institutions: electoral success by opposition parties, the interaction of mixed party participation in the legislature with the size of the executive's winning coalition, and changes in economic policies that led to greater economic participation. Leadership preferences, which initially chose economic liberalization, produced political liberalization as an outcome of the policies dictated by those preferences. The long-run result is that Mexico's slow and steady approach led it down a path of sustained economic and political liberalization, leading to a sustainable democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I attempt to integrate the study of citizenship into debates in comparative politics, in two different ways. First, I justify the real-world importance of the topic, and thereby encourage other scholars to grapple with its manifestations and implications. Second, I present some suggestive evidence, based on the 15 ?older? countries of the European Union (EU). The findings not only illustrate the extent of cross-national variation in citizenship policies at two different time periods, but they help to demonstrate the applicability of comparative analysis to categorizing and explaining both long-lasting cross-national differences and more recent change in some countries. In explaining the historical variation within the EU, I consider whether or not a country had a prior experience as a colonial power, as well as whether it became a democracy in the 19th century. In accounting for continuity or change over the last few decades, I argue that while various international and domestic pressures have led to liberalization in a number of countries, these usually occurred in the absence of public discussion and involvement. In contrast, when public opinion gets mobilized and engaged--usually by a well-organized far right party, but also sometimes by a referendum or petition campaign--on issues related to citizenship reform, liberalization is usually blocked, or further restrictions are introduced. This finding raises important, paradoxical, and troubling questions about the connection between democratic processes and liberal outcomes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Middle East and North Africa have not yet experienced the democratic revolutions that have swept Latin American, Eastern Europe and a number of countries in other parts of Africa and Asia in recent years, there are still signs of political liberalization and an emerging civil society. While supporters of the Bush administration credit the U.S. invasion of Iraq and other U.S. policies for such change, critics note that many of these developments pre-date or were unrelated to this recent U.S. emphasis on advancing freedom in the region. Furthermore, critics note that the United States remains the primary military backer of the region's autocratic regimes and occupation armies and that the destruction wrought upon Iraq by the U.S. invasion and occupation and the ongoing U.S. influence in the country does not serve a model many others would seek to emulate. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explain why economic growth and liberalization have not led to substantial political reform in China. Specifically, it explores the declining interest in democracy among ChinaÂ’s major urban socioeconomic groups. Bringing together the conclusions of the comparative literature and the empirical findings of China scholars, I suggest that a groupÂ’s attitude toward democracy hinges on how economic reform has affected its (1) material conditions and future prospects; (2) political relationship with the ruling Chinese Communist Party; and (3) social status. More broadly, this analysis indicates that the emergence of capitalism has different consequences in socialist versus non-socialist states. In addition, it shows that support for capitalism cannot be assumed to coincide with, much less cause, support for democracy. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We know that elections in established democracies are "meaningful", in the sense of representing opportunities to hire and fire incumbents. What about elections that take place in non-democracies? Typically, such elections are dismissed as empty and relatively harmless rituals. In this study, I show that, even under less than free conditions, elections have a meaningful chance of (1) firing the incumbent in office, and (2) of ushering in political liberalization. The difference between elections in democracies and non-democracies may be one of degree rather than of kind: elections tend to empower constituents vis-a-vis the incumbent anywhere, just more so in democracies. Given that more than 90 per cent of the countries in the world hold regular elections, the implications are potentially significant. A key message of the paper is that the efforts of the international community to spread the institutions of electoral accountability around the world are far from naive: recent events in Ukraine illustrate the consequences of the trend such efforts have helped set in motion. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the effects of structural adjustment policies (SAPs) on the democratic practices of loan recipient governments, using a dataset of 159 countries from 1981-2004. To meet the conditions of World Bank and IMF SAPs, recipient governments must cut back on public employment and reduce government spending in the areas of health, housing, education, and welfare. Leaders of the World Bank, IMF, and first world governments contend that the governments of third world countries must undertake these policies if they want to cure their economic problems. According to this perspective, improved human rights practices will be one of the many benefits of achieving a higher level of economic development. Rapley (2002), Stiglitz (2002), Vreeland (2003), and many other critics of SAPs argue that these programs have worsened the economic situations within recipient states. Preliminary evidence shows that SAPs undermine democracy and human rights movements in developing countries. SAP-related reductions in state services hurt the most vulnerable members of society. Citizens who have lost these protections often increase their anti-government activity. These challenges to government policies, in turn, often provoke government repression and institutional changes reducing "democraticness." The reductions in democraticness hold for both the short and long-term. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]