The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks

by Edited by Frances Hagopian , Scott P. Mainwaring

• ISBN13: 9780521613200
• ISBN10: 0521613205
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-06
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The late twentieth century witnessed the birth of an impressive number of new democracies in Latin America. This wave of democratization since 1978 has been by far the broadest and most durable in the history of Latin America, but many of the resulting democratic regimes also suffer from profound deficiencies. What caused democratic regimes to emerge and survive? What are their main achievements and shortcomings? This volume offers an ambitious and comprehensive overview of the unprecedented advances as well as the setbacks in the post-1978 wave of democratization. It seeks to explain the sea change from a region dominated by authoritarian regimes to one in which openly authoritarian regimes are the rare exception, and it analyzes why some countries have achieved striking gains in democratization while others have experienced erosions. The book presents general theoretical arguments about what causes and sustains democracy and analyses of nine compelling country cases.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
List of Tables	x
List of Contributors	xiii
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction: The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America	1	(13)
Scott Mainwaring
Frances Hagopian
Latin American Democratization since 1978: Democratic Transitions, Breakdowns, and Erosions	14	(49)
Scott Mainwaring
Anibal Perez-Linan
PART I THREE DEMOCRATIC GIANTS WITH AUTHORITARIAN PASTS: ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, AND MEXICO
Argentina: Democratic Survival amidst Economic Failure	63	(27)
Steven Levitsky
The Growing Sustainability of Brazil's Low-Quality Democracy	90	(31)
Kurt Weyland
The Demise of Mexico's One-Party Dominant Regime: Elite Choices and the Masses in the Establishment of Democracy	121	(28)
Beatriz Magaloni
PART II UNEXPECTED DEMOCRACIES IN UNLIKELY COUNTRIES: BOLIVIA, EL SALVADOR, AND GUATEMALA
Bolivia's Democracy at the Crossroads	149	(30)
Rene Antonio Mayorga
Challenges to Political Democracy in El Salvador	179	(23)
Elisabeth Jean Wood
Democracy on Ice: The Multiple Challenges of Guatemala's Peace Process	202	(33)
Mitchell A. Seligson
PART III DEMOCRATIC EROSIONS IN THE THIRD WAVE: COLOMBIA, PERU, AND VENEZUELA
From ``Restricted'' to ``Besieged'': The Changing Nature of the Limits to Democracy in Colombia	235	(26)
Ana Maria Bejarano
Eduardo Pizarro
Peru 1980--2000: Chronicle of a Death Foretold? Determinism, Political Decisions, and Open Outcomes	261	(28)
Martin Tanaka
Explaining Democratic Deterioration in Venezuela through Nested Inference	289	(30)
Michael Coppedge
PART IV CONCLUSIONS
Conclusions: Government Performance, Political Representation, and Public Perceptions of Contemporary Democracy in Latin America	319	(44)
Frances Hagopian
References	363	(36)
Index	399