The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America

Daniel M. Brinks is Professor of Government and of Law and Chair of the Government Department at the University of Texas, Austin. Dan's research focuses on the role of the law and courts in supporting democracy and human rights. His most recent book (with Abby Blass) is The DNA of Constitutional Justice in Latin America (2018), winner of the Corwin Award for Best Book on Law and Courts awarded by the Law and Courts Section of the APSA.Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University, Massachusetts. He is co-author of How Democracies Die (2018), a New York Times Best-Seller published in 15 languages. His other books include Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America (2003) and (with Lucan Way) Competitive Authoritarianism (2010). He is currently writing a book on the durability of revolutionary regimes.María Victoria Murillo is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the School of International Affairs and the Director of the Institute for Latin American Studies at Columbia University, New York. She is the author of Labor Unions, Partisan Coalitions, and Market Reforms in Latin America (2001), Political Competition, Partisanship, and Policymaking in the Reform of Latin American Public Utilities (2009), and (with Ernesto Calvo) Non-Policy Politics (2019).