Guide to Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities

coalition: an alliance, partnership, or union
of disparate peoples or individuals
reciprocity: mutual action or help that
benefits both parties
unicameral: comprised of one chamber,
usually a legislative body
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voters. The turnover rate alone in PNG since the 1970s is well above 50 percent.
Second, governments constantly change because they are caught in the politics
of scarcity of resources. The high expectations from the electorates cannot be
adequately met by limited resources at the government’s disposal. Third, gov-
ernments sometimes change because current parliament members in coalition
governments are bribed, blackmailed, and so on to switch or terminate support
for a prime minister.
The elevation of personal interests and weak parties has resulted in seri-
ous political instability that, in turn, has affected governance. The Integrity
Law introduced in 2001 was designed to stabilize politics in the National
Parliament. One of its key provisions prohibited members of parliament
from switching political parties at will unless for reasons specified by the law.
Some political developments since 2002 have tested the Integrity Law, but
more time is required to see how effective it can be in dealing with PNG’s
instability problem.
E C O N O M Y   A N D   P E O P L E ’ S   W E L FA R E
PNG had a relatively small economy when it gained independence in 1975,
supported mainly by the exportation of raw 
commodities
, particularly in cash
crops and mineral resources. What has been conspicuously underdeveloped is
the secondary sector. For one reason or another, the investment environment
has not been conducive for the infusion of private capital into the manufactur-
ing sector.
An ongoing issue for PNG’s key economic decision makers and advisers has
been this lopsided economy that has depended on the mineral sector, and later
the petroleum sector, for export revenue. The economy has been also heavily
dependent on Australian aid, but this dependence was reduced significantly in
the 1990s. The basic structure of the economy has hardly changed from that of
independence.
At the start of the twenty-first century, PNG was rated as a low-income coun-
try. Its national poverty stands at 38 percent. The country’s 
per capita
income
was $2,959 in 2001. The rapidly growing population has added pressure on the
ability of the government to provide basic services, particularly in rural areas.
Bearing the brunt have been the health and education sectors. Life expectancy
and infant mortality statistics have improved only a little in the past decade, but
the decline in illiteracy has been more encouraging. Overall, the women still
fare worse than the men.
P U B L I C   S E R V I C E
PNG inherited a modern public 
bureaucracy
from Australia; however, with
barely a qualified national workforce to take over responsibility on independ-
ence, it proved extremely difficult for the bureaucracy to maintain its resilience.
The professional culture of the bureaucracy began to dissipate by the mid-1980s
as conflicts of loyalty occurred between public servants and other individuals
and the state.
Forces that compromised the public service were also introduced through
national politics, and parliamentarians have given themselves greater leeway to
control the public service. Whatever the justification for this piece of legisla-
tion, what became obvious on hindsight was that the public service was to
be severely politicized, and 
cronyism
,
nepotism
, theft, and corruption have
become endemic.
per capita: for each person, especially for
each person living in an area or country
bureaucracy: a system of administrating
government involving professional labor; the
mass of individuals administering government
cronyism: favoritism for one’s friends or sup-
porters in the appointment to positions or
granting of other benefits
nepotism: favoritism for one’s own family in
the appointment to positions or granting of
other benefits
commodity: an article of trade or commerce
that can be transported, especially an
agricultural or mining product
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Unrestrained recruitment into the public services over the years had made
it not only the biggest employer in the country but also extremely expensive.
Efforts have been undertaken since the mid-1990s to strengthen the public serv-
ice and to retrench, but there have been inadequate funds to pay off workers.
P N G :   T H E   C R O S S R O A D S
Papua New Guinea at present is at a crossroads. It can take pride in its record
of democratic governance since independence. There have been rumors of a
coup
d’etat at certain times, but they have never come to fruition. There have
been constitutional crises, but the 
rule of law
has always gained the ascendancy.
The country has had to deal with separatist movements, but it has not faltered as
a union. Many areas of the country are still largely unaffected by modernity, yet
PNG remains one of the persevering democracies in the developing world.
See also: 
Australia.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Dinnen, Sinclair. “In Weakness and Strength—State, Societies and Order in Papua New
Guinea.” In Weak and Strong States in Asia-Pacific Societies, ed. Peter Dauvergne.
Canberra: Australian National University, Research School of Pacific and Asian
Studies, 1998.
Dorney, Sean. Papua New Guinea: People, Politics, and History. Sydney, Australia:
Random House, 1990.
Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in
Thirty-Six Countries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
Nelson, Hank. Papua New Guinea: Black Unity or Black Chaos? Middlesex, UK: Penguin
Books, 1974.
The World Bank.World Bank Little Data Book. Washington DC: The World Bank, 2003.
Henry Okole
Paraguay
Paraguay is located in the lowland sub-tropical interior of South America’s
Southern Cone. It is divided into two distinct regions by the Paraguay River. To
the west of the river lies the Chaco, accounting for 60 percent of the territory
but just 3 percent of the population, according to the 2002 census. Ninety-seven
percent of the total population of 5.2 million lives in the rolling hills and grass-
lands east of the river. 
Spanish
conquistadors
founded Asunción in 1537, establishing a colonial
administration that governed Paraguay until 1811. When Buenos Aires declared
its independence from Spain in 1810, it sent a military force to liberate Paraguay
from the Spanish, but Paraguayan forces defeated the Argentines in battle.
Paraguay declared its own independence from Spain in 1811 and then struggled
for the next forty-five years to maintain its independence from Argentina.
Argentina recognized Paraguayan independence only in 1856.
Paraguay has fought two major international wars: the War of the Triple
Alliance, against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay (1864–1870), and the Chaco War
against Bolivia (1932–1935). The War of the Triple Alliance resulted in the death
conquistador: one of the leaders of the
Spanish conquest of Central and South
America in the sixteenth century; derived
from the Spanish for “conqueror”
coup: a quick seizure of power or a sudden
attack
rule of law: the principle that the law is a
final grounds of decision-making and applies
equally to all people; law and order
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of more than half of Paraguay’s prewar population and the loss of over one-
quarter of its territory. Paraguay won the conflict over the Chaco and secured
control of the bulk of the region as a result. The epic stories of struggle in these
wars are important to Paraguayans’ national identity.
Another important source of national identity for Paraguay is the Guaraní
language, spoken by over 80 percent of the people. About one-half the popula-
tion also speaks Spanish; thus, many Paraguayans are bilingual. Speakers of
Guaraní consider themselves to be ethnically Paraguayan and not indigenous.
(Only 1.6% of the population identified itself as indigenous in the 2002 census.)
Because of this, Paraguayans have perhaps the strongest sense of ethno-national
identity of any country in South America.
The Colorado Party has governed the country since 1947. General Alfredo
Stroessner (b. 1912) took power in a military 
coup
d’etat in 1954 and governed
in alliance with the Colorado Party and the military until February 3, 1989. On
that date he was overthrown by his son’s father in-law, General Andrés
Rodríguez (1923–1997), who moved quickly to establish a democratic political
system. Formal democracy was established with the adoption of a new constitu-
tion in 1992 and competitive elections for president and the national legislature
in 1993. These elections were marred by accusations that the nominee of the
Colorado Party, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, stole the party primary from Luis María
Argaña, and that the general elections were also fraudulent. Nevertheless,
Wasmosy served out his five-year term.
coup: a quick seizure of power or a sudden
attack
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General
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Mayor Pablo
Lagerenza
Fortín Madrejón
Fuerte
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Puerto
La Victoria
Bella Vista
Villazon
Filadelfia
Misión
Estero
Pôrto Murtinho
Ponta Porã
San
Pedro
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Fortín Gral. Delgado
Doctor
Pedro P. Peña
Salto del
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Villa Hayes
Estancia Villa Rey
Pozo Colorado
Caacupé
Caazapá
Coronel Oviedo
Guaíra
Santa Helena
Paraguarí
San
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Bautista
Pilar
Corrientes
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Pedro Juan
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San Lorenzo
Concepción
Villarrica
Ciudad
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Encarnación
B O L I V I A
B R A Z I L
A R G E N T I N A
B R A Z I L
W
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Paraguay
PARAGUAY
200 Miles
0
0
200 Kilometers
100
150
50
50
100
150
Cataratas
del Iguazu
(Iguazu Falls)
Cerro León
3,281 ft.
 1000 m.
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP)

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P a r a g u a y
In 1997 retired General Lino Oviedo was declared the winner of the
Colorado Party primary, defeating Argaña. However, Oviedo’s candidacy was dis-
allowed by the courts, due to his conviction by a military court just weeks before
the election for attempting to overthrow the Wasmosy government in 1996. To
replace him, his running mate in the primary, Raúl Cubas Grau (b. 1944), was
elevated to the presidential nomination, and Argaña became the party’s candi-
date for vice president. Cubas Grau and Argaña won the 1998 election. Cubas
Grau’s first action in office was to grant a presidential pardon to Oviedo, but the
Supreme Court declared this pardon unconstitutional. Cubas Grau refused to
abide by the Court’s ruling, leading to 
impeachment
proceedings against him in
1999. It was during these proceedings that, on March 23, 1999, Argaña was
assassinated. During subsequent protests seven demonstrators were killed.
Oviedo supporters were believed to have assassinated Argaña and killed the
demonstrators. Cubas Grau was impeached, and both he and Oviedo fled the
country. President of the Senate Luis González Macchi was sworn in as president
to complete Cubas Grau’s term.
In 2003 the Colorado Party candidate Nicanor Duarte Frutos (b. 1956) won
the presidential election. This election was widely regarded as free and fair,
and the political process leading to Duarte Frutos’ inauguration was largely free
of the dramatic conflicts that marked the previous elections under the demo-
cratic
regime
.
The World Bank considers Paraguay a middle-income developing country.
Its major exports are soy, cotton, and electricity. Textile production and food
processing are the most important local industries. Trans-border trade, much of
it unregistered, is an important source of income, especially in Ciudad del Este
on the Brazilian border.
In 2003 the United Nations (UN) Human Development Index (HDI) ranked
Paraguay eighty-fourth of 175 countries. This represents an improvement from
1993, when the same index ranked Paraguay ninetieth of 173. Paraguay ranked
ninety-first in 2003 in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) 
per capita
, sug-
gesting that the country performs relatively well on the human development
index in spite of its poverty. However, by other measures the 
socioeconomic
situation deteriorated after 1995. Political instability contributed to the govern-
ment’s inability to confront this deterioration. In 1998 the World Bank estimated
Paraguay’s GDP per capita to be about U.S$1,720, but by 2002 the GDP per
capita had dropped to $934. Urban unemployment and rural landlessness
remain serious problems for the country. Paraguay ranked tenth in the world in
2003 on the HDI measure of inequality in income distribution, with inequality
worsening after 1998. By 2001 one-third of the population, or about 1.9 million
people, lived in poverty. This, too, represented an increase in the percentage of
the population living in poverty.
T H E   N AT U R E   O F   T H E   G O V E R N M E N T
Paraguay has a democratic and republican form of government. National
elections are held every five years. Municipal elections are also held every five
years, scheduled 2.5 years after each national election. The political system is
presidential, with a president, national legislature, and judiciary. The state is uni-
tary. Administrative divisions include seventeen departments and the capital city
of Asunción. Departments elect a governor and a departmental council at the
same time as national elections. Over 230 
municipalities
, including Asunción,
elect mayors and town councils.
municipality: local governmental units,
usually cities or towns
impeach: to accuse of a crime or misconduct,
especially a high official; to remove from a
position, especially as a result of criminal
activity
■ ■ ■  
regime: a type of government, or, the
government in power in a region
per capita: for each person, especially for
each person living in an area or country
socioeconomic: relating to the traits of
income, class, and education

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C O N S T I T U T I O N
The constitution was adopted in 1992. It is Paraguay’s sixth and most dem-
ocratic constitution. It replaced the constitution of 1967, which had been
imposed by the Stroessner regime. The overthrow of Stroessner in 1989 took
place at a time when most of the rest of Latin America was governed by democ-
racies. This encouraged the new government under General Rodríguez to
agree, at first reluctantly, to call a constitutional convention to rewrite the 1967
document.
P O L I T I C A L   L I F E
The president of the 
republic
is the most important position in the govern-
ment. The president oversees the 
bureaucracy
and is commander in chief of
the armed forces. The constitution of 1992 considerably reduced the powers
of the president. The president does not appoint judges and has a weak veto that
Congress can override by an absolute majority vote. Nevertheless, control over
appointments to executive branch jobs and the power of the Colorado Party give
the president significant resources. President Wasmosy had 67 percent of his
vetoes upheld, in spite of opposition-party control of Congress and the low
threshold for a congressional override. Paraguay also has a strong tradition of
looking to the president to provide leadership. Even congressional leaders from
opposition parties expect the president to provide direction and help negotiate
resolutions to conflicts.
The Congress is bicameral, with an eighty-member House of Deputies and
a forty-five-member Senate. Members of the House of Deputies are elected by
proportional representation
from electoral districts that correspond to the sev-
enteen departments and the city of Asunción. The number of representatives
ranges from nineteen to one. The degree of 
malapportionment
in favor of the
smaller departments is modest, but it does contribute to a rural and conserva-
tive bias in the House that favors the two traditional political parties: the
Colorado Party and the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA). Senators are
elected by proportional representation from a single national list.
Throughout the Stroessner regime Congress was subordinate to the presi-
dent and enjoyed few real powers. Since 1992 Congress has been a coequal
branch of government, with significant power to legislate and investigate the
actions of the executive branch. This power increases when the president does
not enjoy firm support from his own party, as was the case during the Wasmosy,
Cubas Grau, and González Macchi presidencies. Congress successfully
impeached and removed President Cubas Grau, and nearly impeached
President González Macchi near the end of his term in 2003. For several years in
the mid-1990s, the congressional bicameral investigation committee led the way
in investigating corruption and human rights abuses. 
The public sector includes ten ministries of the central government, a vari-
ety of autonomous entities such as the public universities, state-owned enter-
prises, and public financial institutions, and the departmental and municipal
governments. Efforts to reduce the size of the public sector have not been
successful; indeed, the total number of public sector employees grew through-
out the 1990s to over 150,000 in 2000. Central government expenditures as a
percentage of GDP peaked at just over 10 percent in 2000. Privatizations of
state-owned enterprises have been limited to the state airline, merchant marine,
and alcohol plant. Analyses of the bureaucracy find that it is characterized by
inefficiency, lack of professionalism and clear requirements for promotion, and
in some cases massive corruption. Transparency International’s Corruption
republic: a form of democratic government
in which decisions are made by elected repre-
sentatives of the people
bureaucracy: a system of administrating
government involving professional labor; the
mass of individuals administering government
■ ■ ■  
proportional system: a political system in
which legislative seats or offices are awarded
based on the proportional number of votes
received by a party in an election
malapportionment: the use of legislative
boundaries to create districts that do not have
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Perceptions Index for 2003 rated Paraguay among the most corrupt states in the
world, with only Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Haiti perceived as more corrupt. In
spite of the transition to democracy, public employment has continued to be
seen by Colorado Party politicians as a means to reward party members, regard-
less of their professional qualifications to work as civil servants.
During the Stroessner dictatorship the judicial branch was clearly subordi-
nate to the president. The 1992 constitution introduced several mechanisms to
create an independent judiciary. A nine-member Supreme Court of Justice
heads the judicial branch. Justices of the Supreme Court are nominated by the
Council of Magistrates and then appointed by the Senate with the approval of
the president. The Council of Magistrates has eight members, including one
Supreme Court justice, one representative named by the president, one sena-
tor, one deputy, two law professors elected by the law faculties, and two attor-
neys elected by the national bar association. Lower-court judges are nominated
by the Council and appointed by the Supreme Court, and can only be removed
by the Jury of Magistrates. Supreme Court justices can only be removed from
office before the mandatory retirement age by impeachment.
These new institutions have not protected the judiciary from political
interference. The first Supreme Court seated under the new constitution
was chosen through a quota system negotiated by the political parties and
President Wasmosy. This agreement granted five seats to the Colorado Party
and four to the opposition. In 2003 President Duarte Frutos engineered the
forced resignation of four justices and the impeachment of two others. The
justices were widely believed to be corrupt, but the impeachable offenses
were Supreme Court rulings that the justices enjoy 
tenure
in office and that
they applied 
judicial review
to the laws themselves and not just to the cases
before them. Tenure in office and judicial review are important features of an
independent judiciary. The president and the political parties, in fact, negoti-
ate the naming of new justices, and the Council of Magistrates merely 
ratifies
that decision. The members of the Council, including its attorneys and law
professors, are connected to political parties, which facilitates the Council’s
subordination to the accord reached by party leaders.
The military is no longer such an obvious presence in political and civil life,
and there has been progress in disentangling the Colorado Party from the
armed forces. The military does defend its corporate interests and retains its
capacity to intervene in politics.