State Crisis in Fragile Democracies: Polarization and Political Regimes in South America

ISBN-13: 9781108415422 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 332 str.

Samuel Handlin

Opis

This book develops a new political-institutional explanation of South America's 'two lefts' and the divergent fates of the region's democratic regimes.

Recenzje

'Handlin's use of process tracing is very rigorous … Handlin's book is an excellent example of how scholars can improve transparency in qualitative methods.' Laura Gamboa, Perspectives on Politics

Spis treści

Part I. Puzzles and Theoretical Explanations: 1. State crises, the left, and democracy in contemporary South America; 2. Explaining divergent party system trajectories and regime dynamic; Part II. Venezuela and Brazil: 3. Venezuela: development of a highly polarizing party system; 4. Brazil: development of a weakly polarizing party system; 5. Democratic erosion in Venezuela, representative democracy in Brazil; Part III. Perspectives across South America: 6. Bolivia and Ecuador: high polarization and democratic erosion; 7. Chile and Uruguay: low polarization and representative democracy; 8. Paraguay and Peru: low polarization and polyarchy; Part IV. Conclusion: 9. Longer-term legacies and comparative perspectives around the world; Appendix A. Operationalization of state crisis and left-wing infrastructure; Appendix B. Operationalization of polarization and regime categories; Bibliography; Index.