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The article discusses the political upheaval in Central America over the past fifteen years, focusing on El Salvador and Guatemala. It explores the transition to democracy in the 1990s after years of civil wars and U.S.-backed military regimes. The text highlights the challenges faced by these countries in addressing fundamental material inequalities and the impact of neoliberal policies on their political and economic landscapes. The article also delves into recent political events in El Salvador and Guatemala, including the rise of President Nayib Bukele and President Bernardo Arévalo, shedding light on the democratic crises each nation currently faces. [Extracted from the article]

Most scholarly literature explores the relationship between regime type and terrorism, while little attention has been paid to the influence of regime on terrorist groups' decision to engage in civil war. This paper argues that the onset of civil war involving terrorist organizations is conditioned by regime type. Democratic regimes create conditions that prevent the onset of civil war involving terrorist organizations, although similar regimes might provide the opportunities for such groups to emerge in the first place. The pacifying effect of democracy on terrorist organizations' decision-making calculus is, however, mediated through a set of democratic institutions. Empirical tests on a global dataset of terrorist organizations show that democratic institutions such as political rights, repression (lack of), rule of law, civil liberties and high state capacity indeed mediate the effects of a democratic regime in lowering the likelihood of civil war onset involving terrorist organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines economic freedom's impact on quality of life conditional on the political risk factors in Africa over the period 1985–2016, using the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique. The results show that economic freedom has a significant positive effect on the quality of life. However, political risk fundamentals, namely civil liberties, political rights and conflict, cause economic freedom to deteriorate the quality of life in African. These results support North's (1990) argument that political institutions play a cardinal role in Africa's economic outcomes and well-being. Therefore, governments in Africa must improve on the political factors to enhance economic freedom's impact on quality of life. Moreover, policies that lead to an increase in aid and economic growth will improve the quality of life in Africa. JEL: C23, I31, P25 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political empowerment possesses significant potential to facilitate the realization of economic inclusion by allowing marginalized groups to make claims on the state in the pursuit of justice and equality. This is particularly promising for individuals engaged in informal economic activity. Cape Town, South Africa, is in many ways a model for this idea: following its post-apartheid democratization process, governments at the local, provincial, and national levels officially recognize the value of informality and have adopted policies to support it. Yet persistent forms of exclusion for those who engage in informal economic activity remain. This article examines why this is the case. In doing so, it explores the forms of marginalization experienced by migrant and non-migrant workers in the Cape Town’s informal food economy and highlights the importance of three factors in explaining why democratization has not translated into greater inclusion: (1) the contours of inequality in the city; (2) the nature of local and national party politics; and (3) the specific dynamics that surround migration and informality. When seeking to translate institutional change into more inclusive forms of development, it emphasizes the importance of paying attention to both open democratic structures and processes and the forms of politics that fill them.

The article "Experimentalist Constitutions: Subnational Policy Innovations in China, India, and the United States by Yueduan Wang" published in Publius: The Journal of Federalism discusses how federal systems like those in China, India, and the United States allow for subnational policy experimentation while also maintaining central government control. The author, Yueduan Wang, compares the history of policy experimentation in these countries, highlighting the role of constitutional structures and factional infighting in shaping subunit policies. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding the interplay between central and subnational governments in fostering or restricting policy experimentation. Wang's analysis sheds light on the complexities of governance in these countries and offers valuable insights for researchers interested in comparative federalism and multilevel governance. [Extracted from the article]