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Drawing from well-known theories of democracy and democratic transition, this essay considers the transition to local democracy in Latin America. It raises a central question: Given the landmark decentralization of the past three decades, what constitutes local democracy in the region today and in which countries can we say it exists? Core considerations in comparing local democracy and national democracy are discussed. I present the concept of "minimum decentralization" and, using this framework, posit six procedural and institutional conditions for defining local democracy. Eighteen systems are evaluated against these conditions at the municipal and intermediate levels of government. Despite the real transfer of authority in many countries, and though several Latin American countries have established or nearly established local democracies, only a few of the local systems can be considered democratic. Though the conclusion is somewhat counterintuitive, explanations for the slow development of decentralization and local democracy are considered. Adapted from the source document.

Over the past decade, there has been a surge of "new Left" governments in Latin America, yet polling data shows no comparable shift to the left among the general Latin American population. If electorates have not followed their political leaders to the left, then it is likely that new right- wing political actors will emerge to compensate for the leftward shift in Latin American politics. I propose a research agenda for studying right-wing politics in light of the current wave of left-leaning governments in the region. I argue that we should focus on four main areas of right-wing politics: the political agenda of right-wing groups; their political organization; their power capability; and the institutional environment in which they operate. This agenda requires that we move beyond the traditional focus on right- wing political parties and focus on right-wing organizations at all levels of formal politics, as well as groups that operate outside the formal political arena. Adapted from the source document.

Many Latin American countries democratized between 1975 and 2000, and research has confirmed that contemporary Latin Americans hold democratic political attitudes. Using America's Barometer surveys of 18 countries from 2008, we examine the commitment of Latin Americans to three democratic attitudes -- preference for democracy over other forms of government, support for general participation rights, and tolerance for participation by system critics. We also explore the impact of personal resources, crime and corruption, evaluation of system performance, social capital, and the sociopolitical context on democratic attitudes. A preference for democracy and support for citizens' participation rights are strong, but tolerance is lower than the other attitudes. Evidence is found for acculturation -- that Latin Americans acquire democratic attitudes by living in democratic regimes and through education. Adapted from the source document.

Der Supplementband ergänzt die 2006 bis 2009 erschienene siebenbändige Ausgabe der Constitutional Documents of the United States of America 1776–1860. Er enthält 14 Verfassungsdokumente zu acht verschiedenen Bundesstaaten die erst jetzt in amerikanischen Bibliotheken und Archiven zugänglich wurden. Darunter ist u. a. auch die Verfassung der kurzlebigen, 1832 bis 1835 von New Hampshire abgespaltenen "Republic of Indian Stream", sowie seltene englisch- und spanischsprachige Verfassungsdokumente aus New Mexico und Texas. Die Texte wurden auf der Grundlage der mitunter seltenen Originaldrucke der offiziellen Staats- oder Konventsdrucker unter Hinzuziehung der Originalmanuskripte ediert, annotiert und indexiert

Ecuador concluyo el siglo XX con una crisis sin precedentes - y empezo el siglo XXI liderando el crecimiento economico en America Latina. Es este un motivo de regocijo o de preocupacion? Frente a esta pregunta nada mejor que el analisis de algunos datos, recordando que la dolarizacion fue presentada no solo como la unica alternativa existente, sino como la gran solucion para resolver los males de la economia ecuatoriana. (Am Lat Mov/DÜI)