Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Prosecuting Presidents: The Politics within Ecuador's Corruption Cases

2012; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 44; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0022216x12000776

1469-767X

Catherine M. Conaghan,

Corruption and Economic Development

Abstract Across Latin America, many former presidents have faced criminal prosecutions on corruption charges, with widely varied outcomes. As with an impeachment, law and politics intersect in the prosecution of a president. In this essay, I examine this nexus by mapping the actions of agents who mobilise to influence how the justice system processes presidential prosecutions: first, accountability actors located in state-based institutions and civil society; second, partisan actors in the executive and legislative branches; and third, defendants, and their partisan and civil society supporters. This study argues that variations in the make-up, resources and alignment of these sets of actors fundamentally shape the trajectory of legal cases. Proceedings against three former presidents of Ecuador are analysed: Abdalá Bucaram, Jamil Mahuad and Gustavo Noboa.