Multi-party environmental negotiations: perspectives from democratizing nations in latin america Available to Purchase

This research examines environmental negotiations in two countries, Mexico and Ecuador, currently undergoing democratic transition. We examine the ability of democratizing political systems to respond to the pressures intrinsic to emerging pluralism. Using a comparative case study approach we examine environmental policy making for conservation. Mexico and Ecuador are at different stages in the democratization process with Mexico being more advanced than Ecuador. We conclude that Mexico’s approach to communicative forums and its management of environmental decision making in a pluralist context is more systematized and less prone to corruption given the stronger set of democratic institutions. In comparison we find that Ecuador’s political institutions remain weak and subject to informal pressures from emerging environmental groups as well as from established interests from the pre-democracy era.