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The Unfinished Transition to Democracy in Latin America

Author: Juan Carlos Calleros-Alarcón

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-11-20

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1135907218

This book examines the political evolution of the judiciary – a usually overlooked political actor – and its capacity to contribute to the process of democratic consolidation in Latin America during the 1990s. Calleros analyzes twelve countries in order to assess the independence, impartiality, political strength and efficiency of the judicial branch. The picture that emerges – with the one exception of Costa Rica – is the persistence of weak judicial systems, unable in practice to check other branches of government, including the executive and the military, while not quite effective in fully protecting human rights or in implementing due process of law guarantees. Aggravating issues, such as corruption, heavy case backlogs, overcrowding of prisons, circumvention of laws and personal vulnerability of judges, make the judiciary the least evolved of the three branches of government in the Latin American transitions to democracy.

The Unfinished Transition to Democracy in Latin America

Author: Juan Carlos Calleros-Alarcón

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780415540742

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This book examines the political evolution of the judiciary - a usually overlooked political actor - and its capacity to contribute to the process of democratic consolidation in Latin America during the 1990s. Calleros analyzes twelve countries in order to assess the independence, impartiality, political strength and efficiency of the judicial branch. The picture that emerges - with the one exception of Costa Rica - is the persistence of weak judicial systems, unable in practice to check other branches of government, including the executive and the military, while not quite effective in fully protecting human rights or in implementing due process of law guarantees. Aggravating issues, such as corruption, heavy case backlogs, overcrowding of prisons, circumvention of laws and personal vulnerability of judges, make the judiciary the least evolved of the three branches of government in the Latin American transitions to democracy.

Economic Policy and the Transition to Democracy

Author: Gary McMahon

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-12-22

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1349246425

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In the 1980s a large number of Latin American countries reverted from military dictatorships to civilian democracies. In most cases the new democratic governments inherited an extremely precarious economic situation, which left little room to manoeuvre. This book analyzes the special problems that governments face in the formulation and implementation of economic policy after the restoration of democracy. In each of six cases - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay - an analysis is made of the difficulties encountered and the performance of the democratic governments.

Fault Lines of Democracy in Post-transition Latin America

Author: Felipe Agüero

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13:

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Concerns about democratization in Latin America today center not on the threat of authoritarian regression, but on the depth, quality, fairness, and completeness of democratization thus far. Large-scale economic and social reforms, stronger and more complex civil societies, and processes of integration and globalization call for new approaches in order to understand the unfolding of democracy in the region. In this context, the contributors to this volume explore the often disjunctive aspects of Latin American democracy, providing a nuanced understanding of contemporary democratic governance.

Repression, Resistance, and Democratic Transition in Central America

Author: Latin American Studies Association. International Congress

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 9780842027687

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For Central America, the last third of the 20th century was a time of dramatic change in which most countries shifted from dictatorships to formal political democracy. This study demonstrates how revolt and revolution served as the motors of political change in Central America. The book examines the various ways in which democratic transition has taken place - all of which have been distinct from countries in South America, where democratization was relatively sudden and peaceful. It analyzes the major forces shaping change in the region and provides the recent political history of all six Central American countries: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Each country's particular transition should add to the reader's understanding of democratization.

Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe

Author: John Higley

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780521424226

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A distinguished group of scholars examine recent transitions to democracy and the prospects for democratic stability in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay. They also assess the role of elites in the longer-established democratic regimes in Columbia, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela. The authors conclude that in independent states with long records of political instability and authoritarian rule, democratic consolidation requires the achievement of elite 'consensual unity' - that is, agreement among all politically important elites on the worth of existing democratic institutions and respect for democratic rules-of-the-game, coupled with increased 'structural integration' among those elites. Two processes by which consensual unity can be established are explored - elite settlement, the negotiating of compromises on basic disagreements, and elite convergence, a more subtle series of tactical decisions by rival elites which have cumulative effect, over perhaps a generation.

Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

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Incomplete Democracy

Author: Manuel Antonio Garretón

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2004-07-21

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 080786157X

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One of Latin America's leading sociologists, Manuel Antonio Garreton explores contemporary challenges to democratization in Latin America in this work originally published in Spanish in 1995. He pays particular attention to the example of Chile, analyzing the country's return to democracy and its hopes for continued prosperity following the 1973 coup that overthrew democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Garreton contends that the period of democratic crisis and authoritarian rule that characterized much of Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s was symptomatic of a larger breakdown in the way society and government worked. A new era emerged in Chile at the end of the twentieth century, Garreton argues--an era that partakes of the great changes afoot in the larger world. This edition updates Garreton's analysis of developments in Chile, considering the administration of current president Ricardo Lagos. The author concludes with an exploration of future prospects for democracy in Latin America.

The State of Democracy in Latin America

Author: Jonathan R. Barton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-11-04

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 1134276184

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The State of Democracy in Latin America presents a critical analysis of the contemporary democratic state in Latin America. In a shift away from the more typical analyses of Latin American political change during the 1990s, this book presents a more state-centric perspective that seeks to explain why transitions to democracy and trends towards better governance have failed to provide more political and social stability in the continent. Through a deeper analysis of underlying social relations and values and how these manifest themselves through institutions, the state is understood not purely as an institutional form but rather as a set of interdependent relations that are shaped by particular collective and individual interests.

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

Author: Guillermo O’Donnell

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2013-07-16

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1421410206

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An array of internationally noted scholars examines the process of democratization in southern Europe and Latin America. They provide new interpretations of both current and historical efforts of nations to end periods of authoritarian rule and to initiate transition to democracy, efforts that have met with widely varying degrees of success and failure. Extensive case studies of individual countries, a comparative overview, and a synthesis conclusions offer important insights for political scientists, students, and all concerned with the prospects for democracy. Political democracy is not the only possible outcome of transitions from authoritarianism. The authors draw out the implications of democracy as a goal and of the uncertainty inherent in transitional situations. Democratization is perhaps the central issue in Latin American politics today. Case studies focus on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.