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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Two Cases from Central America: Attitudes of Political Elites in Panama and Guatemala

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Panama and Guatemala represent two very different political experiences in the Central American region. Also their political elites show different patterns. The disparities in their recent histories, their economies, and their formal and informal institutions have impacted on their representation and composition of their elites. Both countries are characterized by the influence of economy on politics. However, while in Panama the wealth of the canal has contributed to political stability, in Guatemala the old oligarchies have preserved its power by preventing the strengthening of institutions. Nonetheless, in spite of the issues that affect each country, there may be some similarities. One of them is the lack of ideology in their party system. Despite of that elites are able to self-locate themselves in the left-right axis and also their parties, their programs and polices are rather pragmatic and their organizational structures are dominated by a few prominent personalities. In order to show empirical evidences of the differences and similarities between both countries, this chapter maps out elites attitudes on different dimensions of the political system.