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…
Mothers Run the World Through Quiet Revolutions
Los Madres de Plaza de Mayo is an interesting read, given the background and history that Argentina has. At the time of their founding they were not trying to be political or even confrontational in any aspect. They were just…
Transitions to democracy
O’Donnell talks a lot about the transition a country makes to democracy and how to go about it. He points out the difficulties involved in doing this and even when you intend to instill democracy, the policies that you may…
Same Old, Same Old?
In his article, “Continuity or change?”, author W. Hunter explores whether the military still maintains great influence in modern Latin American politics. Hunter argues against the traditional ‘modes of transition’ argument, which insists that the military still plays a vital…
Authoritarianism to Democracy
Transitions from Authoritarianism to Democracy create a time frame of uncertainty in Latin America. O’Donnell and Schmitter makes the arguments in the piece on transitions. They are alone in alluding to transitions as ones that move from the certainty of authoritarian…
Ignored Legacy
In The School of the Americas, author Lesley Gill discusses the ways in which the United States has ironically and hypocritically supported authoritarian regimes in the name of protecting democracy and national security. Gill elaborates that this was done not…
International Contexts
This week’s chapter on international influence on Latin American Democracy ties in interestingly with Schoultz’s article. The article discusses at length the positive correlation between US Aid given to Latin American countries and human rights violations happening in those countries….
International Contexts
Gill’s The Military, Political Violence and Impunity reminded me, especially in its opening pages, of an over-caffeinated vice president of the “Students for Socialism” club at the bi-weekly “rage against the machine meeting” at the grunge coffee shop near campus….
To Intervene Or to Not Intervene
In Chapter 4 of Democracy in America, Smith and Sells explore the various ways in which the United States has intervened in Latin America in the past in hopes of abating the cold war concerns about the rise of communism…
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