ABSTRACT
With few exceptions, Latin American countries have state institutions like those of the United States. Power in the Latin American systems has historically been concentrated in the executive branch, specifically the presidency. Most Latin American countries have bicameral legislatures; only the countries of Central America, Cuba, and Venezuela are unicameral. In Latin America's codes, lists of human rights, and hierarchy of courts, the influence of the French Napoleonic Code has been pronounced. The Latin American countries were structured after the French system of local government, with virtually all power concentrated in the central government and its ministries, and authority flowing from the top down. One of the primary tools in the struggle to centralize power in Latin America from the 1930s to the 1980s was the government corporation or the autonomous agency. As Latin American institutions have evolved over the past thirty years, policy makers have faced a variety of public policy challenges.
