Conservative Parties, the Right, and Democracy in Latin America - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801863864 ISBN 13: 9780801863868

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Under what conditions do political institutions develop that are capable of promoting economic and social elites' accommodation to democracy? The importance of this question for research on regime change and democracy in Latin America lies in two established political facts: alliances between upper-class groups and the armed forces have historically been a major cause of military intervention in the region, and countries with electorally viable national conservative parties have experienced significantly longer periods of democratic governance since the 1920s and 1930s than have countries with weak conservative parties.

The contributors to this book examine the relationship between the Right and democracy in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Peru, and Venezuela during the 1980s and 1990s. The authors focus particularly on the challenges that democratization may pose to upper-class groups; the political role of conservative parties and their electoral performance during these two crucial decades; and the relationships among conservative party strength or weakness, different modes of elite interest representation, and economic and social elites' support for political democracy. The volume includes a statistical appendix with data on conservative parties' electoral performance in national elections during the 1980s and 1990s in these seven countries.

Contributors: Atilio A. Borón, Universidad de Buenos Aires · Catherine M. Conaghan, Queen's University · Michael Coppedge, University of Notre Dame · John C. Dugas, Kalamazoo College · Manuel Antonio Garretón, Universidad de Chile · Scott Mainwaring, University of Notre Dame · Rachel Meneguello, Universidade de Campinas · Kevin J. Middlebrook, University of California, San Diego · Timothy J. Power, Florida International University · Elisabeth J. Wood, New York University.

About this title

About the Author:

Kevin J. Middlebrook is Director of Research at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California―San Diego. He is the author of The Paradox of Revolution: Labor, the State, and Authoritarianism in Mexico, also available from Johns Hopkins.

Review:

"The essays are uniformly of high quality, interesting, and well integrated with one another."

(Michael A. Morris Perspectives on Political Science)

"A solid collection of essays from top scholars."

(Jennifer S. Holmes Journal of Politics)

"Middlebrook's volume is the most important cross-national volume to date for understanding conservative parties in the Americas."

(Peter M. Siavelis Latin American Research Review)

"The literature on transitions to democracy has made it clear that integration of conservative forces into the institutions of democracy―presumably through parties―is a crucial step. But there has been little discussion, or even description, of this process. So, for its descriptive materials alone, Conservative Parties, the Right, and Democracy in Latin America makes a contribution to scholarship on this problem. The essays all, in my judgment, represent solid accounts of the politics involved."

(Douglas Chalmers, Columbia University)

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0801863864
• ISBN 13: 9780801863868
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408
• Editor: Middlebrook Kevin J.