Carlos Enrique Peruzzotti, Professor, Torcuato Di Tella University, Argentina
Research: Challenging Corruption: The Politics of Societal Accountability in the New Latin American Democracies
Host: Columbia University, Institute for Latin American Studies, NY
March 2002-June 2002

Carlos Enrique Peruzzotti's mission as a Fulbright Scholar was to examine the progress that new democracies in Latin America have made in monitoring government activities and exposing corruption. "Countries like Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico are in transition from authoritarianism to democracy," he says. "They have constitutions and free elections, but their authoritarian traditions and enclaves are hard to shake. It's important to see and understand that real progress is being made and to discuss it with others."

A professor of sociology at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Peruzzotti first came to the United States as a high school exchange student in Pennsylvania. Later, he returned to earn a doctorate in sociology at New York's New School for Social Research. Peruzzotti remembers well that Americans embrace open discussion. "One of the great things about the United States is that wherever you go, you enlarge your perspective by debating and discussing issues with people from all over the world," he says. "This helps you to address problems in better ways."

As a 2002 Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Columbia University's Institute for Latin American Studies in New York City, Peruzzotti documented the rise of social accountability in the politics of his region. He gathered a bibliography and discussed conceptual ideas with colleagues there. Peruzzotti also examined the forces behind the changing relationship between citizens and their elected representatives. "The emergence of a human rights movement represented a cultural turning point in Argentine society," he says. "The movement's struggle acted as a catalyst for political learning, triggering a profound renovation of the country's democratic tradition. This reunited two elements that the populist political culture kept apart, democracy and the rule of law."

He adds that actions like those of Argentina's Mothers of Plaza di Majo, a group that held massive protests against kidnappings and disappearances, have helped discredit authoritarian military government and encourage openness. Increased pressure from international watchdog groups and bolder media coverage of government scandals have resulted in people forming nongovernmental organizations, civic associations and social movements that demand true due process for citizens.

Peruzzotti credits Columbia's vast libraries and many experts on Latin America and civil society as essential in helping him evaluate how and why these new democracies are becoming stronger. "I was able to obtain a lot of materials that would have been impossible to get at my home institution," he says. "I wrote a bibliography for my courses at home."

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