Policy Strategies to Strengthen Democratic Governance in Latin America: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela

Transcription

1 Policy Strategies to Strengthen Democratic Governance in Latin America: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela MPA/ID 2009 Authored by: _Íñigo Verduzco_ Contact: address Report for your client:_ UNDP LATIN AMERICA ( PANAMÁ OFFICE)

2 POLICY STRATEGIES TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA: BOLIVIA, CHILE, COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY KEY CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA: BOLIVIA, CHILE, COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA The countries this report focuses on are going through different stages in their development towards more democratic governance. The analysis of the particular challenges to democratic governance in each country provides evidence for this. Bolivia faces challenges stemming from a historical situation where the majority of the country has been left out of participation, leading to low levels of participation by minorities, poor service provision, and insufficient representation. So, the key challenges for Bolivia s democratic governance are constitution building, public administration reform and local governance, corruption, and justice and human rights. On the other hand, Chile faces very different challenges. While Chile has solved many important challenges for democratic governance, increasing access to power for marginalized groups (i.e. women and small political parties) seems like an important opportunity for Chile and UNDP to help improve democratic governance in the country. Colombia is slowly but steadily emerging from an important conflict situation that implies some adaptation and transition from a conflict situation towards a post-conflict situation. Hence, the most pressing issues that Colombia faces to improve democratic governance is dealing with improving justice provision, attending human rights abuses, improving freedom of the media, and assisting civil society in this transitional period. Finally, Venezuela is going through a challenging period with a strong executive and little chance for foreign intervention. Regardless of this situation, the key challenges that this country faces are those related to service and justice provision by the state, as well as issues regarding human rights. The analysis in this paper stresses the difference in challenges faced by the different countries of interest, which suggest that UNDP s Panama Office should be selective in the particular areas of intervention in each particular country to increase impact. The paper is structured as follows. Section II analyzes, for each particular country, available indicators and evidence to determine what are the key challenges to democratic governance and their main underlying causes. From this section we conclude that these are so variable between countries that a country-by-country approach would seem more suitable. Section III looks at alternative interventions that UNDP can do and offers concrete strategies and intervention recommendations for UNDP s Panama office in these countries. Finally, Section V gives the main conclusions and recommendations from this report. 1

3 KEY POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Our key policy recommendations for UNDP to strengthen democratic governance in the region are: Bolivia: Continue support to constitutional building once the new Constitution has been approved; assist government in strengthening decentralization and local governance; and help improve service provision to Bolivia s most vulnerable people. Chile: Assist Chile in improving access to power of marginalized groups (i.e. women and small political forces). In particular we think UNDP can help them in the process of reforming their electoral system to be more accessible for non-majority political forces and in introducing reserved parliamentary seats for women. Colombia: Support the Colombian government and organizations to address issues stemming from conflict de-escalation. We recommend continuing existing programs to improve justice provision and human rights and starting an agenda to support more freedom of the press and strengthen civil society in dealing with post-conflict situations. Venezuela: Partner with the government and the World Bank to improve service provision for the poor; assist Venezuela s authorities in enhancing the judicial system to improve access to justice; and, work with Venezuelans to create an ombudsmen institution that can address human rights violations in the country. 2

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 1 KEY CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA: BOLIVIA, CHILE, COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA... 1 KEY POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS... 2 II. KEY CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THEIR UNDERLYING CAUSES. THE CASES OF BOLIVIA, CHILE, COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA... 4 BOLIVIA... 4 CHILE... 5 COLOMBIA... 6 VENEZUELA... 6 III. MAIN POLICY OPTIONS AND STRATEGIC PROGRAMATIC INTERVENTIONS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN BOLIVIA, CHILE, COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA... 8 BOLIVIA... 9 CHILE COLOMBIA VENEZUELA V: CONCLUSIONS VI: TECHNICAL APPENDIX VII. ENDNOTES

5 II. KEY CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THEIR UNDERLYING CAUSES. THE CASES OF BOLIVIA, CHILE, COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela share some common challenges to democratic governance. Nevertheless, these countries are also at very different stages of their development process towards democracy and hence, it is worth summarizing what the key challenges to democratic governance each country is facing in order to prioritize our recommendations for the main interventions UNDP Latin America should undertake in these countries. Below we present the primary challenges each country is facing and give some context on the overall situation of democratic governance in each particular case. For each country, we provide evidence on the progress achieved so far along the different policy areas that UNDP focuses on: constitution building; electoral systems and processes; public administration reform and local governance; corruption; parliamentary representation and gender; justice and human rights; and civil society and media. This will help us identify the area (or areas) where UNDP assistance is most needed and determine which policy areas should be given more attention in each country. BOLIVIA Bolivia ranks among the top three countries with highest levels of democracy in the South American region (see Table A. 1 and Table A. 2 on the Technical Appendix). Nevertheless, the country does not rank very high in the election system and processes relative to its Latin American peers (see Table A. 4 in the Technical Appendix). Furthermore, Bolivian women and ethnic minorities have been marginalized from participating in the political arena. While nearly 70% of Bolivians are from indigenous origins, they only hold 25.2% of the legislative seats. 1 While Bolivia ranks among the top 5 countries with highest female representation in Parliament, women only hold 14.6% of the seats. It is fair to say that Bolivia still faces important challenges for democracy and participation. However, it seems that the Bolivian democracy is steadily moving towards higher levels of democracy and electoral participation and the newly approved Constitution seems to provide a more solid platform for democracy in these areas. Although the country is faring relatively well in democracy indicators, Bolivia is still one of the poorest countries in the region. Nearly 65% of Bolivians live below the poverty line 2 and, according to data from the World Bank, Bolivia ranks lowest in GDP per capita levels and Human Development Index levels among countries in South America (see Table A. 3 in the Technical Appendix). So, as in other countries in the region, higher levels of democracy have not yet translated into improved living standards for the population. This fact points towards possible constraints and inefficiencies in public administration, governance and corruption. Indeed, Bolivia s performance in these areas can be significantly improved. Bolivia shows very low levels of government effectiveness (see Figure A. 1 in the Technical Appendix), satisfaction with basic services (see Table A. 5). Moreover, corruption also seems to be an important 1 Inter American Development Bank (2008) 2 World Bank (2008). 4

6 issue in the country; Bolivia ranks among the 3 most corrupt countries in Latin America and exhibits high levels of corruption and low levels of control of corruption (see Figure A. 2 and Figure A. 3). Regarding human rights, Bolivia fares relatively well in first generation human rights, but, as mentioned before, lags in social and economic rights (see Table A. 6 and Figure A. 4). On the other hand, Bolivia s press is relatively free (see Figure A. 5 and Figure A. 6) and the civil society seems to be strong 3 Finally, it is worth noting that the 2005 presidential election marked an historical event in the democratic live of Bolivia. As a result, the first president of indigenous origin was elected in a country where nearly 70% of the population is from indigenous origins. President Morales has embarked in an ambitious reform agenda, which recently culminated in the approval of a new Bolivian Constitution. This reform process has polarized public opinion in the country and has spawned important challenges to democratic governance in Bolivia. Nevertheless, this situation presents an unique opportunity for Bolivia to strengthen its democratic governance and for UNDP to assist Bolivia in doing this. CHILE Chile is not only one of the most economically developed countries in Latin America, it is also one of the most advanced democracies in the world. Chile consistently ranks among the top countries in Latin America in levels of democracy (see Table A. 1and Table A. 2), development (see Table A. 3) and electoral systems and processes (see Table A. 4). Recently, however, President Bachelet has pushed for reforms to the electoral system to increase representation of small parties in Congress. 4 Furthermore, Chile s government is highly efficient in addressing the Chilean population needs (see Table A. 5), shows high levels of governance (see Figure A. 1, and low levels of corruption (see Figure A. 2 and Figure A. 3 ). Chile s good performance in democracy and governance is mirrored by its performance in human rights (see Figure A. 4), freedom of the press (see Figure A. 5 and Figure A. 6) and a strong civil society. 5 Nevertheless, while Chile has had many important successes in a wide variety of democratic governance indicators, there are some issues that stand out. Among these one of the most relevant is women s participation in politics. Chile s society is mainly conservative, and women have had little chance to participate actively in decision making at all levels. Women s representation in Parliament was only 15% in 2005 and 5.3% for the Senate that same year 6, in spite of some weakly enforced voluntary gender quotas in some parties. 3 See Civil Society Index Report, Civil Society in Bolivia: From Mobilization to Impact. Bolivia Country Report. CIVICUS 4 International Idea. Source: 5 See Civil Society Index Report, Chile: The Associational Reconstruction of a Nation. Chile Country Report. CIVICUS 6 Inter Parlimentary Union 5

7 COLOMBIA Colombia is, in many ways, a country that closely resembles the Latin American average in many regards. In terms of democracy, there is mixed evidence as to where Colombia ranks. Freedom House ranks Colombia at the bottom (see Table A. 1), while Polity IV ranks it at the middle (see Table A. 2). This pattern is also present in indicators of electoral systems and processes; while Colombia ranks high in electoral processes, pluralism and political participation according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, it ranks very low in political pluralism and participation according to Freedom House (see Table A. 4). So, again, it is difficult to rank Colombia in these dimensions, but it would seem that it belongs somewhere in the middle of the Latin American spectrum. Furthermore, while women and minority participation in Parliament is still small, Colombia has taken decisive steps to increase these proportions, by having reserved seats for minority groups and quotas for women. Regarding governance, Colombia seems to have managed to solve important issues, while there is still room for improvement. Colombians are highly satisfied with service delivery by the authorities (see Table A. 5), but corruption is worse than the Latin American average (but still at the world average, see Figure A. 2 and Figure A. 3) and could be improved. Of crucial importance for Colombia are justice, human rights and issues related with the media. Given Colombia s significant security challenges, where guerillas and paramilitary groups represent considerable threats to the government, rule of law in Colombia ranks low for Latin America (see Figure A. 7). The conflict situation has feed the sustained negative performance of the country in the respect of human rights. For instance, Colombia ranks at the bottom of the list in the respect for physical integrity rights (see Figure A. 4). Furthermore, Colombia also ranks very low in variables that measure liberty of the media; for instance, Colombia is the Latin American country where the indicators for the freedom of the press are worse (see Figure A. 5 and Figure A. 6). VENEZUELA Venezuela offers a challenging panorama for democratic governance. While Venezuela has advanced in some aspects of democratic governance, it has mostly tended towards a deterioration in the majority of the dimensions of democratic governance. Venezuela ranks at the very bottom of many widely used indicators of democratic governance (see Table A. 1 and Table A. 2). Venezuela s electoral system and processes seem to be underperforming; while there seems to be an above average level of political participation, electoral processes and pluralism seem to be clearly below the region s average (see Table A. 4). Venezuela currently experiences a relatively important economic boom fostered by high oil prices and considerable amounts of oil reserves in the county. Nevertheless, all this wealth has not translated into improvements in living standards of the population. Venezuela ranks in the middle of South American countries in development indicators (see Table A. 3), but Venezuelans are very dissatisfied with service delivery by the government (see Table A. 5), showing satisfaction levels as close as those in Bolivia (a 6

8 much poorer country). This shows that there are important challenges in Venezuela to increase governance so that citizens can enjoy better standards of living (see Figure A. 1). An important issue related to the inability of the government to deliver quality services is corruption. Venezuela is among the countries in Latin America where corruption is most prevalent (see Figure A. 2 and Figure A. 3), so this seems to be an area that requires careful attention by the Venezuelan authorities if they want to increase the country s governance levels, but intervention in this area could be politically sensitive. On the other hand, an area where Venezuela has significant challenges and where assistance might be needed is in improving the rule of law. Venezuela ranks very low among Latin American countries in the respect of the rule of law (see Figure A. 6). This has direct implications for the Venezuelan population, which have stated that one of its main concerns is related to delinquency and public security (see Table A. 6). Furthermore, although not in a situation as bad as Colombia, Venezuela also faces important shortcomings in human rights. For example, Venezuela ranks relatively low in physical integrity rights (seefigure A. 4). Finally, regarding media and civil society, Venezuela still ranks somewhat low (see Figure A. 5) with the possibility of turning worse if the current nationalization and censoring of the media keeps at the current rate. To end this section it is important to note that, given the overview of the main challenges that each country faces and the wide variation in the most pressing issues that each country faces, it seems important to avoid interventions in cross cutting issues. We, in no way mean by this that cross cutting issues are not important and should never be considered, we just think that recognizing the particular set of challenges that each country faces seems crucial in order to develop strategies and policies to assist those countries in a way that would maximize results. 7

9 III. MAIN POLICY OPTIONS AND STRATEGIC PROGRAMATIC INTERVENTIONS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN BOLIVIA, CHILE, COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA Once that we have presented and discussed what are the most critical issues that each country faces in their development process towards more democratic governance, we now consider what should be the desired interventions that UNDP s Panama Office should consider to properly address the most pressing issues in the countries of interest so that it can contribute, along other international and national institutions as well as governments, to supporting democratic governance in the region. In this section, we offer series of policy recommendations that addresses the most pressing issues for democratic governance in each country. In a general sense, there are a number of different best practice cases for interventions from which we can get an overall menu of possible interventions. We show these menu of interventions in the next table. POLICYAREAS Constitution building Electoralsystems and processes PAR and local governance Corruption Parliamentary rep., gender Justice and human rights Civil society and media TABLE 1 MENU OF POLICY INTERVENTIONS BY POLICY AREA Improve Const. building process (Tech. assistance, training) Voter education, Election observation, dispute mediation, party building, training Improve public service employment: training, pay, rewards Tighten audit & procurement systems, social audits, strengthen statistical procedures and data recording, privatization of service delivery, private public partnerships, participatory budgets at the local level Tighten audit & procurement systems, social audits, strengthen statistical procedures and data recording, watch dog orgs., participatory budgets at local level, advocate subscription to intl. conventions and norms, shrink role of State in service provision Voluntary Party quotas, legal party quotas, reserved seats, training for candidates Hotlines, whistle blowers, ombudsmen, tribunals Accountability and performance indicators, support watch dog orgs., support for national human rights institutions, promote access to justice (courts, police, public registries), public awareness campaigns against human rights abuses. Media observatories/commissions, media watch groups, journalist workshops (press and democracy), turn state broadcasters into public service broadcasters, promotion of democratic and civic values through media After presenting the range of possible interventions, we would like to explain the criteria we used to choose some interventions over others for the different policy areas and for each country. From Section II we know what are the main challenges to democratic governance each country faces, each of which points to a particular policy area. For each country and policy area we next propose the intervention or 8

10 set of interventions that UNDP s Panama Office should consider based on: the particular challenges each country faces; the political, social, and economic context in each country; the work that UNDP s Panama Office already is doing; and, finally, what are the most successful best practices in other countries (specially within the region) and that could maximize impact. Having considered the criteria used for selection, we next present the particular interventions to address the most challenging issues each country faces in their development towards improved democratic governance. BOLIVIA Given the main priority areas for Bolivia that we discussed above, the next table shows the proposed policies for each. Policy Area Constitution Building Public Administration Reform and Local Governance Justice and Human Rights: Social and Economic rights TABLE 2 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOLIVIA Policy Continue partnership with IDEA International to support constitution building process Partner with central and local governments, NGOs and grassroots organizations to enhance service delivery at the local level. Technical assistance and training workshops. Expand experience of Participatory Budgets in the district of El Alto to other regions. Leverage funds with international financial institutions to support public service delivery to poorest areas So UNDP should continue working with the Bolivian government and International IDEA to support the country with the issues stemming from the newly approved constitution. This would entail helping the Bolivian authorities with technical assistance for the implementation of the new situations that will emerge as a result of the new set of Constitutional rights and obligations for individuals and authorities in the country (e.g. cultural rights). An important aspect of this new Constitutional setting leads to the second set of interventions that intend to assist Bolivia to reform its public administration and increase local participation and governance. To achieve this UNDP should try to partner with the government (at different levels), NGOs and grassroots organizations to assist them in creating capacity to increase service delivery to the most 9

11 in need. This can be achieved through technical assistance and/or training workshops. An interesting example that would be worth using as a best practice guide in Bolivia are participatory budgets in El Alto, and try to replicate that successful model in other districts of the country. CHILE Chile has been one of the most successful countries in Latin America in many dimensions. However, this does not mean there is no room for improvement. We recommend UNDP focuses on trying to foster more political participation so that sectors that have previously been neglected access to decisionmaking can fully participate and contribute to Chile s development. In particular, it is important to address gender issues and open the possibility for small parties (that many times represent minority sectors of the population) to participate in the political arena. To achieve this, we propose that UNDP works with the Chilean government by: Policy Area Electoral Systems and Processes Parliamentary Representation, gender TABLE 3 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHILE Policy Increase district magnitude from 2 seats to anywhere from 4 8 to increases women s representation in Parliament UNDP can host workshops for parliamentarians to promote this reform Move from voluntary party quotas for women to reserved legislative seats Successful neighbor Argentina has very strong legal quotas UNDP can assist with training for women parliamentarians So, UNDP should work with the Chilean authorities to support President Bachelet s recent efforts to make changes to the electoral system to be more inclusive. A way to do this is by hosting workshops for Chilean parliamentarians to discuss the importance of increasing district magnitude so that women and small parties have better chances of accessing power. Furthermore, given Chile s relatively conservative society, it is important to work with Chilean authorities and stress the importance to move from voluntary party quotas for women to reserved seats. An important example in the region of the success of strong legal regulations for women s representation is Argentina. Furthermore, if this change is possible and authorities are receptive, then assisting women parliamentarians would be important so 10

12 that they can be effective and women can be perceived by the population as the important and capable part of society that they are. COLOMBIA In previous sections we have discuss the crucial challenges that democratic governance faces in its transition towards more democracy and better governance. In particular we identified as priority areas those related to justice, human rights, civil society and media. These areas seem to be correlated to the internal armed conflict that has been present in Colombia for many decades. On the one hand, the State has increased its power to address the security challenges, but this has had some collateral effects that have led to not very desirable outcomes in justice and human rights protection and in not granting more freedom to the media, issues which the government needs to address. For these reasons, we propose the next set of policies: Policy Area Justice and Human Rights Civil Society and Media TABLE 4 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COLOMBIA Policy Technical assistance to the Government to help vulnerable populations and demobilized persons affected by the conflict. Develop a national human rights plan to identify key areas and relevant actors. Continue work on established programs to support justice and human rights, especially on those related to: Mechanisms of transitional justice Capacity of state institutions for the investigation, prosecution and punishment of crimes of violence committed by members of illegal armed organizations. Coordinate and facilitate liaising between government, donors, civil society organizations and project partners. Work with/advise national government counterparts on policy development to establish an enabling environment for media access for the poor UNDP has been collaborating with the Colombian government in the area of justice and human rights, and we recommend that, given Colombia s challenges in these areas, UNDP should continue working in these policy areas in that country. Specifically, we think that offering technical assistance to the authorities to deal with vulnerable populations and demobilized persons affected by the country is crucial. The UNDP, through the UN has ample worldwide experience in these topics and it can play an important role in Colombia. Furthermore, UNDP should also continue its assistance in existing programs to support justice and human rights by implementing mechanisms of transitional justice in demobilized areas and prosecution of violent crimes. 11

13 The UNDP has not focused on supporting civil society and the media in Colombia in the past. Given the crucial challenges that the reduction in the armed conflict has produced, it seems necessary that UNDP increases its participation in supporting civil society by facilitating interactions between government, national and international donors and project partners. On the other hand, the UNDP should work with and advise the national government in crafting policies that ensure more media freedom and access by marginalized groups. We think that Colombia s current situation, where armed conflict has diminished and the country seems to be transitioning towards peace, that collaborating with the Colombian government and NGOs is important and the timing and authorizing environment is there for UNDP to have successful interventions. VENEZUELA From the analysis in previous sections, it is clear that Venezuela faces significant challenges in many areas of democratic governance. This is exacerbated by a government that, on occasions, has been somewhat hostile to many international non government organizations. We suggest that, in order to increase impact and be able to have long term and significant positive effects on the Venezuelan population, UNDP should be careful and selective of when and where to intervene. This means finding areas where UNDP can leverage the government s support. We next present the key policy interventions for the most pressing policy areas showed in our analysis above. Policy Area Public Administration Reform and Local Governance Justice and Human Rights TABLE 5 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VENEZUELA Policy Partnership with the World Bank. The World Bank has expressed concerns that public sector inefficiencies are jeopardizing poverty reduction policies Provide technical assistance in improving the procurement systems and general back office management at the local level. Assist in designing appropriate performance indicators and strengthening statistical procedures and data recording at local level. Create a hotline for complaints on the justice system and human rights violations and an ombudsmen institution to run it. Design and implement performance indicators for judges and justice officials Provide training for judges and justice officials An important issue in Venezuela is service provision to citizens. We identified before as this being one of the most pressing challenges for the country. In order to assist Venezuela in improving this, we recommend that UNDP partners with the World Bank, which has expressed concerns about inefficiencies in service provision that can have negative impacts on poverty reduction. Furthermore, the 12

14 World Bank has ample knowledge and experience in decentralization and service provision, so we can collaborate with them and the Venezuelan government by providing technical assistance and workshops to improve procurement systems and design and collect performance indicators to improve monitoring and evaluation of service provision. Venezuela also faces significant challenges in justice provision and human rights. We see that UNDP should strengthen its intervention in this area, give the unchecked growing power of the executive. Working with the opposition in things of importance, such as constitution building seems difficult and, while it can be desirable, we would not recommend this. Nevertheless, we think that important interventions to strengthen democracy would be by improving the justice system by creating a hotline for complaints on the justice system and human rights, along with an ombudsmen institution to run it. Other relevant interventions include training for judges and creating performance indicators for justice officials and judges to help improve the rule of law in Venezuela. V: CONCLUSIONS Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela share some common challenges to democratic governance. Nevertheless, these countries are also at very different stages of their development process towards democracy. Bolivia ranks among the top three countries with highest levels of democracy in the South American region but does not rank very high in the election system and processes relative. Despite this, we have shown that the country is faring relatively well in democracy indicators but Bolivia is still one of the poorest countries in the region. So, as in other countries in the region, higher levels of democracy have not yet translated into improved living standards for the population. We conclude that this fact points towards possible constraints and inefficiencies in public administration, governance and corruption, all areas in which Bolivia underperforms relative to other Latin American countries. Nevertheless, the new Constitution opens a window of opportunity to address these issues. Chile is not only one of the most economically developed countries in Latin America, it is also one of the most advanced democracies in the world. Chile consistently ranks among the top countries in Latin America in levels of democracy, development and electoral systems and processes. Furthermore, Chile s government is highly efficient in addressing the Chilean population needs, shows high levels of governance, and low levels of corruption. Chile s good performance in democracy and governance is mirrored by its performance in human rights, freedom of the press and a strong civil society. 7 Recently, however, President Bachelet has pushed for reforms to the electoral system to increase representation of small parties in Congress. 8 Nevertheless, there are some issues that stand out. Among these one of the most relevant is women s participation in politics. Chile s society is mainly conservative, and women have had little chance to participate actively in decision making at all levels. 7 See Civil Society Index Report, Chile: The Associational Reconstruction of a Nation. Chile Country Report. CIVICUS 8 International Idea. Source: 13

15 Colombia is, in many ways, a country that closely resembles the Latin American average in many regards. In terms of democracy, there is mixed evidence as to where Colombia ranks, some indicators rank it in the middle and other way at the bottom of the region. Furthermore, while women and minority participation in Parliament is still small, Colombia has taken decisive steps to increase these proportions, by having reserved seats for minority groups and quotas for women. Colombia seems to have managed to solve important governance issues, but there is still room for improvement. Of crucial importance for Colombia are justice, human rights and issues related with the media. Given Colombia s significant security challenges, rule of law in Colombia ranks low for Latin America. The conflict situation has feed the sustained negative performance of the country in the respect of human rights. Furthermore, Colombia also ranks very low in variables that measure liberty of the media. While Venezuela has advanced in some aspects of democratic governance, it has mostly tended towards a deterioration in the majority of the dimensions of democratic governance. Venezuela ranks at the very bottom of many widely used indicators of democratic governance and Venezuela s electoral system and processes seem to be underperforming. Moreover, Venezuela s oil wealth has not translated into improvements in living standards of the population. Venezuela ranks in the middle of South American countries in development indicators, but Venezuelans are very dissatisfied with service delivery by the government, showing satisfaction levels as close as those in Bolivia (a much poorer country). This shows that there are important challenges in Venezuela to increase governance so that citizens can enjoy better standards of living. An important issue is corruption. Venezuela is among the countries in Latin America where corruption is most prevalent, but intervention in this area could be politically sensitive. On the other hand, an area where Venezuela has significant challenges and where assistance might be needed is in improving the rule of law. Venezuela ranks very low among Latin American countries in the respect of the rule of law. Furthermore, Venezuela also faces important shortcomings in human rights ranking relatively low in physical integrity rights. Finally, regarding media and civil society, Venezuela still ranks somewhat low, and there is a chance that of it turning worse if the current nationalization and censoring of the media keeps at the current rate. Given the overview of the main challenges that each country faces and the wide variation in the most pressing issues that each country faces, it seems important to avoid interventions in cross cutting issues. For these reasons, our main recommendations by country are: Bolivia: Continue support to constitutional building once the new Constitution has been approved; assist government in strengthening decentralization and local governance; and help improve service provision to Bolivia s most vulnerable people. Chile: Assist Chile in improving access to power of marginalized groups (i.e. women and small political forces). In particular we think UNDP can help them in the process of reforming their electoral system to be more accessible for non majority political forces and in introducing reserved parliamentary seats for women. Colombia: Support the Colombian government and organizations to address issues stemming from conflict de escalation. We recommend continuing existing programs to improve justice provision and human rights and starting an agenda to support more freedom of the press and strengthen civil society in dealing with post conflict situations. 14

16 Venezuela: Partner with the government and the World Bank to improve service provision for the poor; assist Venezuela s authorities in enhancing the judicial system to improve access to justice; and, work with Venezuelans to create an ombudsmen institution that can address human rights violations in the country. 15

17 VI: TECHNICAL APPENDIX Ranking of Latin American countries (South America) in levels of democracy according to Polity IV and Freedom House: TABLE A. 1 DEMOCRACY RANKING (FREEDOM HOUSE) Freedom House/Imputed Nation Name Polity, Uruguay Chile 93 3 Bolivia 85 4 Peru 85 5 Brazil 83 6 Guyana 82 7 Argentina 78 8 Ecuador 73 9 Paraguay Venezuela Colombia 68 Mean 81 The indicator ranges from 0 to 100 (0 = low; 100 = high) Source: Freedom House,

18 TABLE A. 2DEMOCRACY RANKING (POLITY IV) Polity IV Institutionalized Nation Name Democracy, Uruguay Bolivia 90 3 Chile 90 4 Peru 90 5 Argentina 80 6 Brazil 80 7 Colombia 70 8 Paraguay 70 9 Ecuador Guyana Venezuela 60 Mean 77 The indicator ranges from 0 to 100 (0 = low; 100 = high) Source: Polity IV, 2002 TABLE A. 3DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS FOR SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES Nation name Population 2006 (1) Ranking Human Development Index 2002 (2) Ranking GDP/Capita PPP 2002 (3) Ranking Gini Index 2002 (4) Ranking Argentina 39, , Bolivia 9, , Brazil 189, , Chile 16, , Colombia 45, , Ecuador 13, , Guyana , Paraguay 6, , Peru 27, , Suriname ,590 5 NA NA Uruguay 3, , Venezuela 27, , Mean 31, , (1) In thousands. World Bank,

19 TABLE A. 4ELECTORAL SYSTEM AND PROCESSES Nation Name Electoral Process and Pluralism, 2006 (1) Political pluralism and participation, 2006 (2) All the indicators ranges from (0 = low; 100 = high). (1)Source: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007 (2)Source: Freedom House, 2007 (3) Source: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007 Political participation, 2006 (3) Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Latin America

20 FIGURE A. 1GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVENESS 19 TABLE A. 5 INDEX OF SATISFACTION WITH BASIC SERVICES, Source: Latino Barometro , Table 7 * Index of Basic Services: The index of satisfaction with basic services is constructed by aggregating six indicators of satisfaction: Public spaces and green areas, municipal services, roads and pavement, public transport, waste management and sewage. The index ranks from 0 to 6: High satisfaction (5 6 points), Medium Satisfaction (3 4 points), low satisfaction (0 2 points)

21 FIGURE A. 2LATIN AMERICA LAGGS BEHIND THE WORLD IN CORRUPTION Paraguay Ecuador Bolivia Guatemala Venezuela Nicaragua Honduras Argentina Panama El Salvador Dominican Mexico Colombia Brazil Peru Costa Rica Uruguay Chile Corruption Perception Index Note: A score of 0 indicates a nation is highly corrupt. Source: Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, FIGURE A. 3 CORRUPTION PERCEPTION AND CONTROL OF CORRUPTION PRY ARG HND VEN GTM ECU BOL COL SLV DOM NIC PER MEX PAN Score (0=highly corrupt) BRA 51 World Average Latin American Average Corruption Perception and Control of Corruption Control of Corruption - Estimate Source: Quality of Governance Cross Sectional Dataset URY CRI 75 CHL 20

22 TABLE A. 6 MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEMS FACED BY CITIZENS (HUMAN RIGHTS) Identify the most important problem you face (%) Venezuela Delinquency, Public security 46 Economic Problems Guatemala Economic problems 35 El Salvador Economic problems 33 Perú Economic problems 33 Costa Rica Economic problems 32 Ecuador Economic problems 25 Bolivia Economic problems 24 México Economic problems 24 Uruguay Economic problems 23 Argentina Economic problems 21 Chile Economic problems 18 Inflation Panama Infaltion, price increases 46 Dominican Rep. Infaltion, price increases 22 Honduras Infaltion, price increases 19 Unemployment Nicaragua Unemployment 29 Paraguay Unemployment 26 Colombia Unemployment 24 Brasil Unemployment 17 Source: Latinobarometro , Table 5 FIGURE A. 4 PHYSICAL INTEGRITYRIGHTS 21

23 FIGURE A. 5 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS Freedom of the Press FIGURE A. 6 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND PRESS FREEDOM INDEX CRI ECU URY CHL PRY SLV PER ARG Press Freedom BOL PAN Note: 0 (total press freedom) and 100 (no press freedom). Indicators: Press Freedom Index, Reporters without Borders Press. Freedom of the Press, Freedom House BRA Press Freedom Index Source: Quality of Governance Cross Sectional Dataset VEN MEX GTM COL 22

24 FIGURE A. 7 RULE OF LAW IN LATIN AMERICA Venezuela and Colombia could benefit greatly from assistance in strengthening the rule of law. Bolivia's situation is not so critical, while Chile is an example of good practice in Latin America Chile Uruguay Mexico Latin America El Salvador Bolivia Nicaragua Argentina Guatemala Paraguay Rule of Law Source: Quality of government database WGI

25 VII. ENDNOTES Published sources: Cingranelli and Richards Measuring the Level, Pattern, and Sequence of Government Respect for Physical Integrity Rights. International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Jun., 1999), p.409 CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report, Civil Society in Bolivia: From Mobilization to Impact. Bolivia Country Report. Pp CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report, Chile: The Associational Reconstruction of a Nation. Chile Country Report. Corporacion Latinobarometro Informe Pp Inter American Development Bank Outsiders? The Changing Patterns of Exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. Report. Economic and Social Progress in Latin America. pp Kaufmann, Daniel and Aart Kraay Governance indicators: Where are we, where should we be going? The World Bank Research Observer 23(1):, p.20 Marshall, Monty G. and Keith Jaggers Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, : Dataset Users Manual. Maryland: University of Maryland. Munck Geraldo L. and Jay Verkuilen Conceptualizing and measuring democracy Evaluating alternative indices. Comparative Political Studies. 35 (1): p14 Sören Holmberg Bo Rothstein Naghmeh Nasiritousi Quality of Government: What You Get. QoG Working Paper Series 2008:21. p3 UNDP, Democracia/Estado/Ciudadanía. Hacia un Estado de y para la Democracia en America Latina. United Nations Development Programme. Serie Contribuciones al Debate, Vol. II. Online sources: World Bank,

26 Inter Parliamentary Union. International Idea. 25