Policy and legislative mechanisms that enforce transparency and accountability, and place limits on politicians' behaviour, are useful tools for addressing political corruption, which constitutes a problem of particular gravity in Latin America. A number of scandals have recently come to light,...

The problem of balancing power through institutional design — always a central concern of constitutional theory — has taken on even greater salience in current scholarship in light of contemporary concerns over economic inequality and failures of American democracy today. This paper extends...

We found that the driving force behind policies in Brazil is the strong set of powers given to the President by the Constitution of 1988. To have strong powers does not mean unbridled powers. Several institutions constrain and check the power of the President, in particular the legislature, the...