Dr. Martin Diskin was a very engaged and vital member of the Latin American Studies Association community for some 30 or more years. Martin also gave us [at Oxfam America] 18 years of his life . . . . He shaped over this period our commitment to human rights. He guided our grant-making in Latin...

Electoral competition is necessary but not sufficient for the consolidation of democratic regimes; not all elections are free and fair; nor do they necessarily lead to actual civilian rule or respect for human rights. If there is more to democracy than elections, then there is more to...