Shaping the Political Arena

by Ruth Berins Collier, David Collier, Guillermo O'Donnell (Preface by)

Overview

Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier are political scientists who use comparative historical research to discover and evaluate patterns and sources of political change. Their work is an overall analysis of Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico, plus case studies of four distinct pairs in that group: Chile/Brazil, Uruguay/Colombia, Argentina/Peru, and Venezuela/Mexico. In addition, the Colliers meticulously describe and discuss their methods for the study including the limitations of their approach. The authors specifically focus on why and how organized labor movements in the first half of the twentieth century were incorporated into the political process in the eight Latin American countries they study. They analyze the role played by political parties, central government control, worker mobilization, and conflict between radical vs. centrist political philosophies and activities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268077105
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	11/15/2015
Series:	Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	898
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Ruth Berins Collier is professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

David Collier is professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Guillermo O'Donnell (1936–2011) was Academic Director of the Kellogg Institute and Helen Kellogg Professor of Government and International Studies and Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He received the IPSA Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Political Science and is the author, editor, and co-editor of a number of books, including The Quality of Democracy: Theory and Applications (University of Notre Dame Press, 2004).

Editorial Reviews

This book is a disciplined, paired comparison of the eight Latin American countries with the longest history of urban commercial and industrial development—Brazil and Chile, Mexico and Venezuela, Uruguay and Colombia, Argentina and Peru. . . . Overall, a path-breaking volume.” —Foreign Affairs

“… Colliers’ mammoth tome remains among the most significant contributions to the field of comparative political science … [It] is an indispensable point of reference both for students of comparative politics in twentieth-century Latin America and for comparativists interested in state-society relations in late industrializing societies throughout the world. Shaping the Political Arena is destined to remain among the classic works of Latin Americanist scholarship that contribute to disciplinary debates that reach far beyond the region itself.” —Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

“This is a monumental work, a tour de force. It is one of the most important books in the field of Latin American politics in several years.” —American Political Science Review

“To paraphrase the book’s title, this masterful work deserves to shape the intellectual arena for social scientists and historians for years to come.” —Political Science Quarterly

“This massive, ambitious, and wide-ranging book advances our understanding of modern Latin American politics by identifying the historical moment when forces emerged and relations were crystallized in ways that shaped subsequent political life.” —The Review of Politics

“Massive in scope, ambitious in its conceptual reach, and encyclopedic in detail, Shaping the Political Arena is destined to stand as a landmark in the literature for years to come.” —Studies in Comparative International Development

From the Publisher