Analysts and policymakers often decry the failure of institutions to accomplish their stated purpose. Bringing together leading scholars of Latin American polit

This Element introduces the concept of institutional weakness, arguing that weakness or strength is a function of the extent to which an institution actually ma

During the 1990s Argentina was the only country in Latin America to combine radical economic reform and full democracy. In 2001, however, the country fell into

Rather than an unintended by-product of poor state capacity, weak political and legal institutions are often weak by design.

"The volume emerged out of two conferences on informal institutions. The first, entitled 'Informal Institutions and Politics in the Developing World, ' was held