Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:06:22.915Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Backlash against State Strengthening Reforms

The Rise and Fall of the CICIG in Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2022

Sandra Botero
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Daniel M. Brinks
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
Ezequiel A. Gonzalez-Ocantos
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

The Commission against Impunity in Guatemala was an unprecedented international partnership to build the rule of law in a weak state. Between 2007 and 2019, the CICIG contributed to important legal reforms, the creation of a specialized prosecutor’s office and “high-risk” courts, and investigations of more than sixty criminal networks before being shut down by a president whom it was investigating. The CICIG’s sponsorship by the United Nations and funding from international donors helped it to survive resistance from successive Guatemalan presidents. As the CICIG’s investigations and a stronger Guatemalan state threatened a broader array of previously untouchable powerful domestic actors – including in business, the military, and politics – domestic opposition became more obstructionist. The backlash against the CICIG was ultimately successful when an under-resourced and fragile pro-reform domestic coalition could not replace the international support that had lessened as a result of independent but simultaneous global political trends in the late 2010s. The CICIG experience suggests that rule of law reformers will struggle with backlash from those actors who would lose power and face punishment in a strengthened state and that backlash may be insurmountable as international allies move on.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Limits of Judicialization
From Progress to Backlash in Latin America
, pp. 115 - 138
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bowen, R. E. (2019). The Weight of the Continuous Past: Transitional (In)Justice and Impunity States in Central America. Latin American Politics and Society 61(1), 126–47.Google Scholar
Brands, H. (2010). Crime, Violence, and the Crisis in Guatemala: A Case Study in the Erosion of the State. Carlisle, PA: US Army War College.Google Scholar
Brinks, D. M. & Blass, A. (2018). The DNA of Constitutional Justice in Latin America: Politics, Governance, and Judicial Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carothers, T. (2006). Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: In Search of Knowledge. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Google Scholar
CICIG (2009). Two Years of Work: A Commitment to Justice, Guatemala, Guatemala: International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala. Annual Report, Guatemala: CICIG.Google Scholar
CICIG (2014). Informe de La Comisión Internacional Contra La Impunidad En Guatemala con Ocasión de Su Séptimo Año de Labores, Guatemala, Guatemala: International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala. Annual Report, Guatemala: CICIG.Google Scholar
CICIG (2015). Informe de La Comisión Internacional Contra La Impunidad En Guatemala con Ocasión de Su Octavo Año de Labores, Guatemala, Guatemala: International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala. Annual Report, Guatemala: CICIG.Google Scholar
Collins, C. (2010). Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico (Guatemala) (2000). Guatemala, Memory of Silence = Tz’inil Na’tab’al: Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification, Conclusions and Recommendations. 2nd ed. Guatemala: CEH.Google Scholar
Diamond, L. (1999). Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Díaz Rivillas, B. & Linares Lejarraga, S. (2005). Fortalecimiento de la Independencia Judicial en Centroamérica: Un Balance Tras Veinte Años de Reformas. América Latina Hoy 39, 4796.Google Scholar
Domingo, P. & Sieder, R. (2001). Rule of Law in Latin America: The International Promotion of Judicial Reform. London: Institute of Latin American Studies.Google Scholar
García-Godos, J. & Salvadó, L. R. (2016). Guatemala: Truth and Memory on Trial. In Skaar, E., García-Godos, J. & Collins, C., eds., Transitional Justice in Latin America: The Uneven Road from Impunity towards Accountability. New York: Routledge, pp. 203–26.Google Scholar
Girod, D. M., Krasner, S. D. & Stoner-Weiss, K. (2009). Governance and Foreign Assistance: The Imperfect Translation of Ideas into Outcomes. In Magen, A., Risse, T. & McFaul, M. A., eds., Promoting Democracy and the Rule of Law: American and European Strategies. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 6192.Google Scholar
Gloppen, S. (2004).The Accountability Function of the Courts in Tanzania and Zambia. In Gloppen, S., Gargarella, R. & Skaar, E., eds., Democratization and the Judiciary: The Accountability Function of Courts in New Democracies. London: Frank Cass, pp. 112–36.Google Scholar
Hammergren, L. A. (2007). Envisioning Reform: Improving Judicial Performance in Latin America. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Hammergren, L. A. (2008). Twenty-Five Years of Latin American Judicial Reforms: Achievements, Disappointments, and Emerging Issues. Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations 9(1), 89104.Google Scholar
Helmke, G. & McLean, E. V. (2014). Inducing Independence: A Strategic Model of World Bank Assistance and Legal Reform. Conflict Management and Peace Science 31(4), 383405.Google Scholar
Helmke, G. & Ríos Figueroa, J. (2011). Courts in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hernandez Pico, J. (2003). La Revelación Parcial de Los Poderes Ocultos. Política y Sociedad 41, 924.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group (2018). Saving Guatemala’s Fight against Crime and Impunity. Latin America Report No. 70. Brussels: International Crisis Group.Google Scholar
Jonas, S. (2000). Democratization through Peace: The Difficult Case of Guatemala. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 42(4), 938.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keck, M. & Sikkink, K. (1998). Activists beyond Borders: Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
McAuliffe, P. (2013). Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Reconstruction: A Contentious Relationship. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
McCleary, R. M. (1999). Dictating Democracy: Guatemala and the End of Violent Revolution. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Misión de Verificación de las Naciones Unidas en Guatemala (2000). Compendio General Sobre El Proceso de Paz de Guatemala. Guatemala: Misión de Verificación de las Naciones Unidas en Guatemala (MINUGUA).Google Scholar
Mota Prado, M. & Trebilcock, M. J. (2019). Institutional Bypasses: A Strategy to Promote Reforms for Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Olsen, T. D., Payne, L. A. & Reiter, A. G. (2010). Transitional Justice in the Balance: Comparing Processes, Weighing Efficacy. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.Google Scholar
Peacock, S. C. & Beltrán, A. (2003). Hidden Powers in Post-Conflict Guatemala: Illegal Armed Groups and the Forces behind Them. Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America.Google Scholar
Popkin, M. (2000). Peace without Justice: Obstacles to Building the Rule of Law in El Salvador. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Prillaman, W. (2000). The Judiciary and Democratic Decay in Latin America: Declining Confidence in the Rule of Law. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Proyecto Interdiocesano Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (Guatemala) (1998). Guatemala, Nunca Más: Informe Del Proyecto Interdiocesano Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica Versión resumida. San Sebastián: Tercera Prensa.Google Scholar
Ríos-Figueroa, J. & Staton, J. K. (2014). An Evaluation of Cross-National Measures of Judicial Independence. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 30(1), 104–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salas, L. (2001). From Law and Development to the Rule of Law: New and Old Issues in Justice Reform in Latin America. In Domingo, P. & Seider, R., eds., Rule of Law in Latin America: The International Promotion of Judicial Reform. London: Institute of Latin American Studies, pp. 1746.Google Scholar
Santiso, C. (2004). Economic Reform and Judicial Governance in Brazil: Balancing Independence with Accountability. In Gloppen, S., Gargarella, R. & Skaar, E., eds., Democratization and the Judiciary: The Accountability Function of Courts in New Democracies. London: Frank Cass, pp. 161–80.Google Scholar
Sieder, R. (2004). Renegotiating “Law and Order”: Judicial Reform and Citizen Responses in Post-War Guatemala. In Gloppen, S., Gargarella, R. & Skaar, E., eds., Democratization and the Judiciary: The Accountability Function of Courts in New Democracies. London: Frank Cass, pp. 137–69.Google Scholar
Sikkink, K. (2011).The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Skaar, E. (2011). Judicial Independence and Human Rights in Latin America: Violations, Politics, and Prosecution. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skaar, E., García-Godos, J. & Collins, C. (2016). Introduction: The Accountability Challenge. In Skaar, E., García-Godos, J. & Collins, C., eds., Transitional Justice in Latin America: The Uneven Road from Impunity towards Accountability. New York: Routledge, pp. 124.Google Scholar
Stanley, W. (2007). Business as Usual? Justice and Policing Reform in Postwar Guatemala. In Call, C. T., ed., Constructing Justice and Security after War. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, pp. 113–55.Google Scholar
Thelen, K. (2004). How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulfelder, J. (2010). Dilemmas of Democratic Consolidation: A Game-Theory Approach. Boulder, CO: First Forum Press.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, L. (2017). Global Norms with a Local Face: Rule-of-Law Promotion and Norm Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, L. (2019). Beyond Diffusion: Cyclical Translation of International Rule-of-Law Commission Models in Guatemala. Journal of International Relations and Development 22(1), 2849.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×