This chapter explores the quality of governance in twelve Latin American countries by analyzing different forms of public appointments. Using configurational methods—specifically fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fs/QCA)—I examine how four causal conditions contribute to high-quality governance: a strong party system, effective policy implementation, anticorruption policies, and a solid merit-based appointment system. The analysis identified two solutions with a consistency threshold above 0.5. The first solution corresponds to countries with institutionalized party systems, high-quality public services, and ongoing merit-based appointment systems. The second solution applies to countries where governance is achieved primarily through party institutionalization, even in the absence of effective government, anticorruption measures, or merit-based appointments. The main contributions of this study are twofold. Analytically, it demonstrates that good governance transcends the influence of isolated variables and is shaped by broader institutional configurations. Methodologically, fs/QCA enables the simultaneous analysis of public appointments’ impact on governance and allows for cross-national comparison in the Latin American context. This approach provides a clear indication of the relevance of public appointments and how countries can organize them according to their specific institutional needs. Finally, the study concludes that, when considered in isolation, merit-based systems produce better governance outcomes than patronage. However, when combined with other conditions, patronage can contribute to more stable governance models.