Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis article uses empirical evidence from Nicaragua to examine Guillermo O'Donnell's argument that new democracies often become undemocratic delegative democracies and that vertical accountability is not enough to stop such encroaching authoritarianism. While events in the last five years have focused attention on illegal executive behavior by former president Alemán, Nicaragua's democracy actually has experienced authoritarian presidencies under all the major parties. Elections and popular mobilization have strengthened the independence of the legislature, however. Mechanisms of vertical accountability thereby have proven more effective than expected in restraining executive authoritarianism and fostering institutions of horizontal accountability. The case of Nicaragua shows that citizens can use the power balance and separate institutional mandate of presidential democracy to limit authoritarianism.

This essay examines the fate of the 100 largest industrial firms in the world in the year 1912 over the period to 1995. Disappearance and decline were the most common outcomes, but a few firms succeeded in growing considerably. There are no significant differences between the performance of giant German, British and American firms. No simple formula enables us to discriminate ex ante between long-run corporate success and failure. (Prokla / FUB)