Research about Latin American Legislatures by American and European Researchers.

Research about Latin American Legislatures by American and European Researchers.

United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. 

By Jeffrey Fondeur, University of Florida.

            College students have the opportunity to do academic research in any area of their preference while enrolled in any accredited institution. Many of the results from research performed at universities have improved lifestyles, perspectives and even medicine. For these reasons, students should take doing research into consideration, even as undergraduates. In "Latin American Legislative Politics: A Survey of Peer-Reviewed Publications in English", written by Eduardo Aleman, a known political scientist and faculty member at the University of Houston, TX, he discussed the basic trends in articles on legislative politics in Latin America published in twelve journals between 2000 and 2010.

            According to Aleman, “American culture influences Latin American culture, even in politics.” (p.15) For this reason, college students should increase the number of researches they do about this region. The result of these researches can positively impact how legislative politics are addressed by Latin American politicians.

"The investigation of Latin American legislative issues has changed essentially in the course of the most recent three decades" (p.15) – the is incompletely because of new local trends. Topics that for quite a long time had charmed the consideration of international political specialists and students, for example, military intercessions, corporatism, the social inheritance of Iberian imperialism, and the political of extending industrialization, started to lose noticeable quality after most nations in Latin America had progressed from dictatorship to democracy. Throughout the years, the investigation done by students from American universities about democratic politics, including administrative establishments, progressed toward becoming stimulated after the fall of most dictator regimes. This is very interesting since these countries needed to be analyzed the most under these regimes. Like mentioned above, Latin American countries are influenced by American and European tendencies, given the case, European and American students should explore and analyze the politics of Latin America in order to strengthen the authority and legitimacy of these governments and help their bureaucrats govern properly, at least according to the United Nations and other international organizations, which seek the best for these nations regardless of their regimes. 

The developing significance of institutionalist approaches in political theory, noticeable since the late 1970s, impacted the exploration of another age of graduate students inspired by Latin American governmental issues. It is not unexpected for PhD scholars in political theory to compose theses about the decision of just political establishments or their effect on political results anymore. Because of these changes, more research is being directed on Latin American states and their legislatures. However, not enough research has been conducted to improve the institutions of these governments. Enough research has been conducted about the ‘transition from authoritarianism to democracy, but not about the administration of these new democracies.’ These countries have transitioned successfully to democracy, except from Venezuela and Cuba, with still have communist-like tendencies; however, most of the diplomats of these new democracies have been accused of treason, corruption and even sexual assault, locally and internationally, which leads to the improper management of the governments of their corresponding states.

            Aleman’s study “evaluates articles on legislative politics published in twelve journals between 2000 and 2010.” Somewhere in the range of 2000 and 2010, these twelve diaries distributed 88 articles on legislative governmental issues in Latin American nations (2.1 percent of the aggregate), not including book audits or "articles whose essential spotlight was on elections." There were less productions amid the early piece of the decade (15 somewhere in the range of 2000 and 2002) than in the mid-or late-2000s (27 somewhere in the range of 2008 and 2010). Despite the fact that there is no similar proof from the most recent many years of the twentieth century, the quantity of articles on this theme distributed since 2000 is likely higher. Utilizing diverse criteria to tally articles and looking over less English-language diaries, Morgenstern and Negri (2009) found not many distributions on Latin American authoritative legislative issues before the year 2000. 

            After analyzing the survey, there are some points about the result that I feel should be highlighted. 

            First, a considerable amount of these articles has enhanced the investigation of administrative governmental issues by “testing and modifying hypotheses about authoritative legislative issues somewhere else.” (p.17) These works have helped researchers assess the generalizability of powerful contentions about legislative issues frequently found in writing in the United States or Western Europe.

Additionally, these articles enhanced the comprehension of authoritative legislative issues in presidential governments. Also, the examination analyzed in these articles reflect normal shortcomings referred to by researchers looking into the condition of comparative administrative research. To conclude, the area of Latin America it is still developing, meaning that students still have time to focus on the research of this region. 

To conclude, the study of LA has increased since the 1990s. In the survey, Aleman reviewed the journals and gave his own opinions about the results, which helps people have a better understanding of the topic in question. Also, while numerous articles have added to learning about authoritative governmental issues, much work stays to be finished. Further research on Latin American administrative legislative issues is expected to improve hypotheses that regularly were barely focused to fit explicit cases, just as to stimulate the advancement of new speculations to address other, less examined inquiries that are significant to the region.

Reference

Alemán, E. (2013). Latin American Legislative Politics: A Survey of Peer-Reviewed Publications in English. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 5(1), 15–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1866802X1300500102
Jorgensen, T. T. (n.d.). United Nations, Nations Unies [Photograph]. United Nations Headquarters, Geneva, Geneve.