Discipline, accountability, and legislative voting in Latin America

Accountability in legislative representation carries implications for the relationship between legislators and constituents regarding communication, information, responsiveness, and the potential for punishment. There is an inherent tension between party discipline and responsiveness by individual legislators to their constituents. Recent institutional reforms in Latin America have sought to increase individual responsiveness of legislators, even at the expense of party discipline. The most important are mixed electoral systems combining single member districts with proportional representation and public voting in legislatures.