Democracy in Latin America: Visions and Realities

by Susanne Jonas, Nancy Stein

Overview

Recent events throughout Latin America have placed issues of democracy on centerstage. Collected here for the first time are articles that evaluate different models of democracy, challenging the realities and myths of the practice of democracy in various countries throughout the region. This is a provocative and revealing study of the critical issues in the struggle for democracy and current events in the Third World and the United States.

Through the writings of leading Latin American and U.S. scholars, including James Petras, Pablo Gonzalez Casanova, and Max Azicri, the book addresses such important topics as whether Washington's model democracies are truly democratic, and how Guatemala's civilian regime compares to Nicaragua's revolutionary democracy. By covering countries as diverse as Cuba, Argentina, and Guatemala, the collection adds to an understanding of different models of democracy and challenges traditional methodologies used to evaluate them. Several essays put the issue of democratization in the context of economic crisis, resulting in political redefinitions, and the emergence of the new social movements. The book includes a foreword and introduction by the editors, and concludes with a comprehensive index. It will be a useful resource for courses in political science and Latin American history, and an important addition to college, university, and public libraries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780897891653
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/24/1990
Series:	Bibliographies and Indexes in
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1510L (what's this?)

About the Author

SUSANNE JONAS teaches Latin American studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She has written extensively on Central America and is currently working on a book on Guatemala, as well as analytical articles concerning recent developments in Central America based on firsthand observation.

NANCY STEIN has researched and written extensively on U.S. policy toward Latin America with a focus on Central America and U.S. military policy. She is a former president and current board member of Global Options, a San Francisco-based research organization.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction by Susanne Jonas
The Dictatorship and Its Aftermath: The Secret Wounds by Eduardo Galeano
The Construction of Democracy in Nicaragua by Susanne Jonas and Nancy Stein
The Origins of Crisis and Instability in Central America by Edelberto Torres-Rivas
Contradictions of Guatemala's "Political Opening" by Susanne Jonas
The Redemocratization Process by James Petras
Foreign Debt, the Threat of Foreign Intervention, and Democracy in Latin America by Pablo González Casanova
The Unpayable Debt: An Interview with Fidel Castro by Regino Díaz
Twenty-Six Years of Cuban Revolutionary Politics: An Appraisal by Max Azicri
Haiti: A Complex Situation and an Unknown Struggle by Gérard Pierre-Charles
Economic Crisis and Dependency: The Case of the Dominican Republic by José A. Moreno
Index