These multidisciplinary essays combine an appreciation of the progress made in Third World democratization with an assessment of structural and cultural factors that limit further progress toward procedural democracy in many parts of the world, such as China and much of the Middle East.

Brian H. Smith's book surveys recent religious and political developments in Latin American Christianity, especially in the rapidly growing Pentecostal churches and in Catholicism. He finds that despite efforts by the Vatican to make the Latin American Church less involved in politics (in the wake of liberation theology) by the papal appointment of a whole new generation of conservative bishops since 1980, Catholicism is still very much a political force throughout the region.
Catholic bishops, in spite of their conservative religious ideology, have felt obligated to preach the social...

Although most Latin American countries are considered middle-income nations, their child health and well-being statistics overall compare poorly with those of the United States. This volume, representing the fifth part of Project Latin America 2000 from the Helen Kellogg Institute, brings together contributors from the U.S., Latin America, and organizations such as UNICEF to consider the physical, educational, social, legal, and economic status and progress of children throughout Latin America, focusing especially on health and rights issues. In chapters concerning health, experts in biology...

The nine essays in this collection represent the first book-length treatment of one of the major changes that have shaped Latin America since independence: decentralization of the state. Contributors argue that though the assignment of political, fiscal, and administrative duties to subnational governments has been one of the most important political developments in Latin America, it is also one of the most overlooked. This volume is divided into three sections. Part one presents an overview of the topic by the editors; part two considers the political origins of decentralization; and part...

Arie M. Kacowicz addresses problems associated with identifying international norms and the relevance and influence of these norms on the behavior of international states in a regional context.

This study focuses on the relationship between the use of national courts to pursue retrospective justice and the construction of viable democracies. Included are essays on the experiences of eight countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland and South Africa.

Colombia is home to the longest-running guerilla war in this hemisphere, a war that has evolved into a multisided conflict. Why has Colombia's internal war become so entrenched? Why have peace efforts failed to produce durable agreements? Why has Colombia's long-standing democracy experienced such glaring failures? Who should be held accountable for the violence suffered by the Colombian people? Peace, Democracy, and Human Rights in Colombia addresses these pressing questions and delves deeply into the underlying politics and bedrock human rights issues in Colombia. Authored by leading...

This is the story of Bolivian rural development and cultural change in three parts. The first provides an overview of the history of rural development; the second consists of narratives of nine projects; and the third analyzes successful outcomes of the projects and their effects.

The Roman Catholic Church in Latin America faces significant and unprecedented challenges. Most prominent among them are secularization, globalizing cultural trends, intensifying religious competition, and pluralism of many kinds within what were once hegemonic Catholic societies. The substantial and original essays in this volume assess the ways in which the Catholic Church in Latin America is dealing with these political, religious, and social changes. Most importantly, they explore how democracy has changed the Catholic Church and, in turn, how religious changes have influenced democratic...