Latin American Democracy

More than thirty years have passed since Latin America began the arduous task of transitioning from military-led rule to democracy. In this time, more countries have moved toward the institutional bases of democracy than at any time in the region’s history. Nearly all countries have held free, competitive elections and most have had peaceful alternations in power between opposing political forces. Despite these advances, however, Latin American countries continue to face serious domestic and international challenges to the consolidation of stable democratic governance. The challenges range from weak political institutions, corruption, legacies of militarism, transnational crime, and globalization among others.In the second edition of Latin American Democracy contributors – both academics and practitioners, North Americans, Latin Americans, and Spaniards—explore and assess the state of democratic consolidation in Latin America by focusing on the specific issues and challenges confronting democratic governance in the region. This thoroughly updated revision provides new chapters on: the environment, decentralization, the economy, indigenous groups, and the role of China in the region.

"Millett, Holmes and Pérez have undertaken a major revision of their widely read first edition. This new edition offers new material on the environment, decentralization, the economy, indigenous groups and the growing role of China in Latin America. The product is a cohesive volume that provides a comprehensive analysis of recent trends away from democratization. It is written by the top scholars in the field and does an excellent job of looking at topics from both the perspective of the North and that of the South. Unlike other treatments, which focus narrowly on state institutions, this volume goes far beyond that limited perspective and includes such important issues as political culture, populism, crime, corruption, civil-military relations, human rights, the media, and more. A continued must read for scholars, students, and policy makers."—Mitchell A. Seligson, Centennial Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Americas Barometer, Vanderbilt UniversityThis comprehensive, edited volume contains chapters on all the usual themes in the political development and democracy literature. Chapters cover the roles of political culture, the military, presidentialism, indigenous movements, the representation of women, the strength of institutions, corruption, crime, inequality, governance, and populism. ...Overall, this is a thorough overview of past and current research on the democratic transition and consolidation throughout Latin America. --L. M. Barnett, Our Lady of the Lake University

Richard L. Millett is professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and Vice President of the American Committees on Foreign Relations. Jennifer S. Holmes is a professor and Head of Public Policy, Political Economy and Political Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. Orlando J. Pérez is associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Millersville University. He is a member of the Scientific Support Group for the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University and directs the Americas Barometer survey in Panama.