Research on the presidency in Latin America offers one of the most promising sources of contributions to be made to the study of comparative government. With the exception of a few articles in journals, and chapters on the presidency in political science texts and readers, no general work on the Latin American chief executive is to be found in English. Also lacking are general works on the presidency in individual countries. With more than 700 Latin American presidents in office since the twenty republics were formed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, investigation seems not only possible but desirable in building modest or middle-range theories of development and modernization in the behavior of Latin American chiefs of state. Given the fact of presidential domination of the political process throughout much, if not most, of the republican period in Latin America, the presidency is an obvious and important focus of study.

The purpose of this article is to formulate some general conclusions about Latin American and African caucusing group voting behavior patterns in the United Nations General Assembly. This study will attempt to establish and correlate these voting behavior patterns in terms of: (1) issues; (2) intra-group solidarity; and (3) inter-group support.

The method of inquiry is roll call voting analysis computed on the basis of percentage of total votes cast during a regular session of the Assembly on a general category of issues. The analysis includes all roll call votes (approximately 2,300) cast on entire resolutions during plenary sessions of the General Assembly from 1946 through 1966. This excludes from consideration all votes cast: (1) in the various committees of the Assembly; (2) on procedural matters; and (3) on parts of resolutions.