The “Big Five” personality traits of presidents and the relaxation of term limits in Latin America

Araya, Ignacio Arana

doi:10.1080/13510347.2021.1957838

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Preceding research on the expansion of presidential powers has overlooked a well‐established tradition that has used a variety of at‐a‐distance methods to examine the consequences of the personality traits of presidents on executive governance. These works have focused on different traits of the leaders, such as their Big Five personality traits (Rubenzer & Faschingbauer, 2004; [Arana Araya, 2021a; Arana Araya and Guerrero Valencia, 2020]), their power, achievement, and affiliation motives (Winter, 2002), their leadership characteristics (Hermann, 2003), and their intellectual brilliance (Simonton, 1986).…”

Section: What Explains the Expansion Of Presidential Powers?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Quest for Uncontested Power: Presidents' Personalities and Democratic Erosion in Latin America, 1945–2012

Araya

2021

Political Psychology

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There is a growing scholarly consensus that overreaching heads of government are subverting democracies across the globe. However, the characteristics of these leaders remain unclear. This article examines a type of overreaching presidential behavior that has been commonplace in Latin America: between 1945 and 2012, 25 presidents from 14 countries tried to change their respective constitutions to increase their powers. Building on personality research and semistructured interviews conducted with former presidents, this article proposes that risk taking and assertive leaders are more likely to try to increase their powers. Using a novel database, I conduct discrete-time-duration models to test the hypotheses on the presidents that governed from 1945 to 2012. The results demonstrate that the personalities of presidents are a strong force behind their attempts to consolidate their authority. These findings challenge current approaches in presidential studies and have implications for the study of all types of political elites.

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Section: What Explains the Expansion Of Presidential Powers?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Quest for Uncontested Power: Presidents' Personalities and Democratic Erosion in Latin America, 1945–2012

Araya

2021

Political Psychology

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“…Furthermore, the absence of research on the democratic effects of re-election rules is all the more surprising given that comparative research has paid much attention to their origins. Although we know a lot about the reasons why presidents pursue permissive reforms, why some succeed and continue in office, and under what conditions (Arana Araya 2021; Baturo 2010; Cassani 2020; Kouba 2016; McKie 2019; Sánchez 2013), the effects of such reforms are unknown.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Democratic Cost of Consecutive Re-election and Presidential Term-Limit Evasion in Latin America

Kouba

Pumr

2021

Gov. & oppos.

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Despite theoretical arguments suggesting the strong effects of presidential term limits and re-election on democracy, there is surprisingly little empirical evidence to evaluate them. We test both the effect on democracy of the existence of a consecutive re-election rule and of reforms introducing it for incumbent presidents. Using evidence from Latin American countries between 1945 and 2018, we test their relationship to both vertical and horizontal accountability. A synthetic control method is employed to account for the effect of term-limit reforms, and time-series cross-section models for modelling the association with the re-election rule. Both vertical and horizontal accountability as well as the quality of democracy are eroded by term-limit evasion reforms in most countries and strengthened in none between 1990 and 2018. Allowing presidents to run for re-election – relative to term-limited ones – is consistently associated with weak democratic outcomes.

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Bolivia: A Miracle Turning into a Competitive Autocracy

Riaz,

Rana

2024

Global Political Transitions

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The “Big Five” personality traits of presidents and the relaxation of term limits in Latin America

Cited by 8 publications

References 44 publications

The Quest for Uncontested Power: Presidents' Personalities and Democratic Erosion in Latin America, 1945–2012

The Quest for Uncontested Power: Presidents' Personalities and Democratic Erosion in Latin America, 1945–2012

The Democratic Cost of Consecutive Re-election and Presidential Term-Limit Evasion in Latin America

Bolivia: A Miracle Turning into a Competitive Autocracy

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