El Estado y el ciudadano

Abstract

This paper examines the institutional mechanisms through which rigths of all citizens can be protected in democracies. "llorizontal" mechanisms consist of mutual checks and balances among difibrent branches of govern-ment. "Vertical" mechanisms are those through which citizens exercise their control over the government. One vertical mechanism are the elections. But elections are a blunt instrument and additional mechanisms are necessary to enable popular control. Yet these mechanisms may accentuate political in-equality, rather than reduce it. The alternative hypothesis is that unequal protection of rights is due not to the internal structure of the state but to the social and economic conditions which it confronts. Perhaps in a highly unequal society, no state institutions can enforce the law universally, regardless how well the horizontal and the vertical mechanisms are designed. Thus reform of the state, while necessary, may be insufficient to overcome political inequality in the face of economic and social inequality.