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From National to Local: Government Structures in Mesoamerica

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Regional Integration, Development, and Governance in Mesoamerica

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Abstract

In the previous chapter, I presented the scenario at the Mesoamerican regional level with references to how this level interacted with the rest of the Americas as part of the “spaghetti bowl.” I pointed out problems that rise from the existence of overlapping regional projects, and the lack of communication and coordination among them. The implications for regional governance were that the lack of coordination among the existing official bodies gave way to duplication of efforts or initiatives falling through the cracks. The regional institutions’ lack of coordination was identified both by the OECD’s 2005 regional report and in the final report of the PPP in 2008.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Although Costa Rica has been generally considered the more mature democracy in Central America, a conference was held in San José Costa Rica on 17 October 2006, titled “Gobernabilidad Democrática y Nuevas Orientaciones Políticas en Costa Rica: escenarios a partir de las elecciones 2006,” to address the concern of many academics and political analysts that there was increasingly a negative tendency of becoming more like its neighbours.

  2. 2.

    The Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index report 2016 classifies Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, and Panama as “Flawed democracies” and Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua as “hybrid democracies.” http://www.eiu.com/Handlers/WhitepaperHandler.ashx?fi=Democracy-Index-2016.pdf&mode=wp&campaignid=DemocracyIndex2016.

  3. 3.

    The Presidential elections in Mexico in 2006, where supporters of the candidate that lost by a narrow margin blocked major roads throughout the nation, including an important avenue in Mexico City for several months demanding a recount; or the municipal elections of Nicaragua in 2008, where violent protests took place after international observers called it the “least transparent election in recent history” (Reforma, 10 November 2008).

  4. 4.

    These studies took place in Latin America as a whole.

  5. 5.

    http://www.ujat.mx/eventos/2008/simposium-elsur/programa.pdf.

  6. 6.

    Also see “Enfoque: Información, reflexión y cultura política;” Reforma, Num. 759, 19 October 2008, pp. 4–9.

  7. 7.

    Juan E. Pardinas and Ruy Manrique: Cuentas Estatales: Caos y Opacidad. Reforma; revista Enfoque Num. 759, 19 October 2008, pp. 4–9.

  8. 8.

    Canal 7 Guatemala (TV), round table discussion on the Acuerdo Nacional (National Agreement) for development, aired on 27 September 2006.

  9. 9.

    Mexico implemented its professional civil service in 2005. http://www.spc.gob.mx/subsistemas1.htm.

  10. 10.

    Continuing with this trend, the 2011 elections were won by the Patriotic Party and 2016 by National Convergence Front.

  11. 11.

    The FMLN won national elections in El Salvador in March 2009 and again in 2014. In June 2019 a new centre-right party formed in 2010 “The Grand Alliance for National Unity” won the elections.

  12. 12.

    Denuncian a Daniel Ortega por muerte de 34 en Nicaragua. La Jornada, 26 April 2018. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2018/04/26/denuncian-a-daniel-ortega-por-muerte-de-34-en-nicaragua-8390.html.

  13. 13.

    Even though political parties are fragile, in the sense that they are easily formed and replaced, most politicians vote according to the party they belong to. A politician that goes against party lines usually changes party affiliation (i.e., Porfirio Muñoz Ledo in Mexico who started in the PRI, then went to PRD, joined PAN during Fox’s campaign and later, was in congress with the PT.

  14. 14.

    Guatevisión, Libre encuentro, 23 September 2006. Statement by Virgilio Alvarez, researcher at FLACSO.

  15. 15.

    This has only been true for Mexico since President Zedillo’s government in 1994.

  16. 16.

    This is changing in 2018. https://politico.mx/central-electoral/elecciones-2018/reelecci%C3%B3n-inicia-en-2018-c%C3%B3mo-funcionar%C3%A1/.

  17. 17.

    Carole Simonnet and Armando Estrop, “Fijan reglas únicas para rendir cuentas: Deben entidades homologar contabilidad a más tardar en 2012,” 26 November 2008, Reforma, front page.

  18. 18.

    Reforma, 28 November 2008, front page.

  19. 19.

    Personal search of each of the State Development Plans. Projects that are part of the PPP are mentioned in some of the plans, however they appear to be of state initiative and not PPP.

  20. 20.

    “Hacen en Oaxaca obras ‘fantasma’” Reforma 29 March 2009. “Hallan más desvíos en Salud de Oaxaca” Reforma 22 March 2010. Investigations began in 2009 but were hindered by state laws. In July 2010, the PRI government lost state elections and investigation of more illicit activities of that previous government continue.

  21. 21.

    See http://www.consejomexicano.org/index.php?s=contenido&id=2475 for full text.

  22. 22.

    http://www.milenio.com/firmas/joaquin_lopez-doriga/gobernadores-presos-procesados-profugos_18_941485884.html.

    Out of 16: three from Veracruz, two from Quintana Roo, two from Tamaulipas, one from Oaxaca and one from Chihuahua, among others.

  23. 23.

    “Pretenden frenar saqueo en Estados,” Reforma, 26 November 2008.

    See also: “Opacan el gasto con fideicomisos,” Reforma 9 May 2018. https://www.reforma.com/aplicacioneslibre/articulo/default.aspx?id=1390188&md5=2542afb2be298b906f39538dda9bd630&ta=0dfdbac11765226904c16cb9ad1b2efe.

  24. 24.

    State of the Region on Sustainable and Human Development report has been published in 1999, 2003 and 2008, 2011, and 2016 as a report from Central America for Central America, including collaborations from renowned academics and investigators in Central America and can be found on. https://estadonacion.or.cr/files/biblioteca_virtual/centroamerica/001/Prologo_I_ER-region01.pdf. https://estadonacion.or.cr/informe-iv-estado-region. https://estadonacion.or.cr/inicio/estado-region.

  25. 25.

    Full text: http://www.vng-international.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Plan-Estrat.%C3%A9gico.pdf.

  26. 26.

    http://fedomu.org.do/2016/09/02/camcayca-y-sica-dialogan-sobre-la-articulacion-de-los-gobiernos-locales-en-el-sistema-de-integracion-regional/.

  27. 27.

    http://mjp.go.cr/Comunicacion/Nota?nom=Encuentro-Regional-para-la-prevencion-de-la-violencia-reune-a-ocho-paises-en-Costa-Rica.

  28. 28.

    http://www.vng-international.nl/blog/compendium-best-practices-local-governments-on-the-prevention-violence/.

  29. 29.

    I was asked to give some background information on the programme and the situation in southeast Mexico, and in return, was able to participate in one of the round tables and obtain the results of the study.

  30. 30.

    Jesús Guerrero, Abandona Guerrero clínica indígena Reforma, 25 February 2009. Story in newspaper article.

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Conferences Attended

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Anahuac México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Alina Gamboa

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Gamboa, A. (2020). From National to Local: Government Structures in Mesoamerica. In: Regional Integration, Development, and Governance in Mesoamerica. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25350-9_5

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