Democracy in Latin America

Surviving Conflict and Crisis?
1. Auflage 2003
ISBN: 978-0-7456-2759-5
Verlag: Polity Press

Buch, Englisch, 232 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 454 g

Latin America has seen a great extension of democratic government over the past twenty years. However democratisation has proved problematic in a number of ways: many Latin American countries have seen little per capita growth; poverty has increased; and political crises have often recurred. The idea of the ‘Washington consensus’ - that democracy, free markets and prosperity would go together in the region - has so far failed.

In the first part of the book, George Philip identifies the reasons why this should be so. The chapters are organised around relevant historical and institutional factors, such as problems with law enforcement and political tensions inherent in some Latin American variants of presidentialism, authoritarian legacies and patrimonial bureaucracies, civil-military relations, market reform and international intervention. Globalization has exacerbated these difficulties, since it has aggravated the already acute problems of governance facing emerging democracies. The second part of the book explores these issues in relation to a series of case studies involving Peru, Mexico and Venezuela.

This will be an ideal textbook for students taking courses in Latin American politics and Latin American Studies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Philip, George

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations viii

Introduction: Democracy and its Discontents in Latin America 1

1 Democratic Non-consolidation in Latin America 7

2 Unbalanced Presidentialism, Weak law Enforcement, and Political Contestation 22

3 Authoritarian Legacies and the Politics of Appointment 42

4 Civilians, the Military, and Democratic Transition in South America 62

5 International Influences and Democratic Consolidation 79

6 Democracy, Market Reform, and Development Failure 91

7 The Politics of Crisis in the 1990s: A Comparative Perspective 113

8 Cha´vez and the Crisis in the Punto Fijo System in Venezuela 134

9 Non-consolidation and Semi-authoritarianism: Fujimori's Peru 160

10 Mexico: Technocratic Governance and Democratization 175

Conclusion: Democracy, Development, and Partisan Conflict in Latin America 199

References 207

Index 217

Über Autor(innen)

George Phillip is Professor of Comparative and Latin American Politics at LSE