Democratic Consolidation
O’Donnell and Schmitter describe that a transition is over when “abnormality” is no longer a central role in the political arena. Normality that the describe is where actors obey a set group of rules to govern. However, as they continued…
Are Political Parties Key to Democracy?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36028117 The reading by Juan Pablo Luna uses O’Donnell’s essays to form an argument that is quite intriguing for the reasoning behind Latin Americas lack of success. Luna uses O’Donnell’s ideas of a horizontal and vertical accountability. O’Donnell states that…
Latin American Democracy and You
After having read the articles for week seven regarding the emergence of democracy in Latin America, I can say with some certainty that I have not thought of the quality of democracy in terms of its trajectory. Being an American,…
Is Delegative Democracy Possible?
The article Delegative Democracy by Guillermo O’Donnell discusses the subset of democracies that aren’t quite representative, but are not authoritarian regimes dubbed delegative democracies. O’Donnell explains that these democracies are not consolidated (institutionalized), are not completely representative, yet are not…
Week #7 (Grades of Democracy)
Both accounts by O’Donnell highlight the fact that the development of democratic outlooks in the political systems of nations in Latin America has been associated with the development of different grades of democracy. There is no single theory that can…
Democratic Transitions: Latin America
Magaloni’s The Demise of Mexico’s One-Party Dominant Regime provides an insight into the breakdown of one of the strongest autocratic groups in history, the Mexican Partido Revoucionario Institucional (PRI), as well as the creation of democracy in the Mexican government….
Transitions to Democracy
Magaloni’s The Third of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks offers an effective and pragmatic take on Mexico’s “PRI” party and its 70 year control of Mexican politics and government. Amidst its Latin American peers Mexico is different in…
Comparing “From Above” to “From Below” Democratization
In the article, “The Demise of Mexico’s One-Party Dominant Regime”, the idea of democratization working it’s way down from the place of elites to the people is discussed. This is contrasted in the article, “An Insurgent Path to Democracy Popular…
A Case Study Regarding the Role of Economics in Democratic Transitions
Ms. Wood discussed the role of economic interests in democratic transitions especially with respect to the end of the Cold War. She examines two cases of El Salvador and South Africa especially with this post focusing on the former. The…
Invisible Thresholds to Democracy: Mexico
The article, “The Demise of Mexico’s One-Party Dominant Regime” describes not only the slow breakdown of the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI), but it also the creation of democracy and the difficulty of pinpointing when a country officially transitions. The PRI…
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