Richard Feinberg's Essay on U.S.-Nicaragua Relations
Missing Pieces: Presidential Elections, Democracy and Wealth, and More
11/14/2011
Isobel Coleman,
Council on Foreign Relations
In this week’s edition of Missing Pieces, Charles Landow reviews three elections and two scholarly articles. I hope you enjoy the selection.
Election Roundup: Three developing countries, each struggling with its own mix of progress and perils, held presidential elections last week:
First, in Guatemala, former general Otto Pérez Molina won a runoff election on November 6. As I noted on the blog in September, Pérez Molina is best known for his “iron fist” approach to fighting rampant violent crime. This clearly resonated with Guatemalans, though questions continue to dog the president-elect about his actions as a military officer during the country’s civil war. As this informative Reuters piece explains, some are concerned that Pérez Molina will thwart war crimes prosecutions of other former officers. An article from the Americas Society concisely reviews Guatemala’s daunting challenges on security, poverty, and impunity. And the Economist notes that Pérez Molina will need to boost government revenues to have any hope of combating violence.
Click here to read the full article.
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Richard Feinberg is Professor of International Political Economy and Chair of the Global Leadership Institute at IR/PS. He can comment on U.S. foreign policy matters, notably with regard to Latin America and Asia, and business and economic matters.
