In Violent Democratization, Leah Anne Carroll analyzes peasant and rural worker mobilization, as well as elite reaction, in Colombia's war zones over a period of twenty-five years and across three regions. Due to Colombia's long history of electoral democracy coinciding with weak state institutions, armed insurgencies, strong social movements, and violent responses from elites and the state, Carroll presents Colombia as a clear-cut national case of "violent democratization." Relying primarily on her interviews with leftist and social movement activists, elected officials, and...
In Violent Democratization, Leah Anne Carroll analyzes peasant and rural worker mobilization, as well as elite reaction, in Colombia'...
Why has democracy in Colombia and Venezuela evolved in very different directions? In "Precarious Democracies," Ana Maria Bejarano provides a comparative historical analysis of how the democratic regimes in these two countries have diverged, following similar transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy in the late 1950s.
Rather than focusing on resource-driven explanations, such as the role of oil in Venezuela and coffee in Colombia, or on short-term elite choices and calculations, Bejarano argues that democratic development in Colombia and Venezuela is best understood from a vantage...
Why has democracy in Colombia and Venezuela evolved in very different directions? In "Precarious Democracies," Ana Maria Bejarano provides a compar...
The book's essays take a multidimensional approach to the accountability matrix in Brazil. The first section of the book investigates the complex interrelationships among representative institutions, electoral dynamics, and public opinion. In the second section, authors address nonelectoral dimensions of accountability, such as the role of the media, accounting institutions, police, prosecutors, and courts. In the final chapter, the editors reflect upon the policy implications of the essays, considering recommendations that may contribute to an effective fight against political corruption...
The book's essays take a multidimensional approach to the accountability matrix in Brazil. The first section of the book investigates the complex i...
Maryknoll Catholic missionaries from the United States settled in Peru in 1943 believing they could save a backward Catholic Church from poverty, a scarcity of clergy, and the threat of communism. Instead, the missionaries found themselves transformed: within twenty-five years, they had become vocal critics of United States foreign policy and key supporters of liberation theology, the preferential option for the poor, and intercultural Catholicism.In "The Maryknoll Catholic Mission in Peru, 1943-1989"," " Susan Fitzpatrick-Behrens explains this transformation and Maryknoll s influence in...
Maryknoll Catholic missionaries from the United States settled in Peru in 1943 believing they could save a backward Catholic Church from poverty, a...
In Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity: Panama's Assembly, 1984-2009, Carlos Guevara Mann systematically examines the behavior of the members of Panama's Legislative Assembly between 1984 and 2009, an arena previously unexplored in studies of Panamanian politics. He challenges fundamental aspects of scholarly literature on democratic legislatures, with important consequences for understanding democratic politics in Latin America and other parts of the world. The current literature on legislatures assumes that legislators single-mindedly seek reelection or the...
In Political Careers, Corruption, and Impunity: Panama's Assembly, 1984-2009, Carlos Guevara Mann systematically examines the...
Based on extensive, original fieldwork, as well as new survey data, The Right to the Citycontributes to the study of democratization by focusing on the dilemmas and opportunities of popular contention in the city of Buenos Aires. It also offers an excellent overview of the history of social mobilization in Argentina. Gabriela Ippolito-O'Donnell's main assertion in this study is that through various channels of collective action and associational activities, as well as by voting, the urban popular sector is a fundamental actor in the pursuit of the expansion and consolidation of...
Based on extensive, original fieldwork, as well as new survey data, The Right to the Citycontributes to the study of democratization by ...
In Power in the Balance: Presidents, Parties, and Legislatures in Peru and Beyond, Barry S. Levitt answers urgent questions about executive power in "new" democracies. He examines in rich detail the case of Peru, from President Alan Garcia's first term (1985-1990), to the erosion of democracy under President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), through the interim government of Valentin Paniagua (2000-2001) and the remarkable, if rocky, renewal of democracy culminating in Alejandro Toledo's 2001-2006 presidency. This turbulent experience with democracy brings into clear focus the...
In Power in the Balance: Presidents, Parties, and Legislatures in Peru and Beyond, Barry S. Levitt answers urgent questions about exe...
Jose Murilo de Carvalho examines the birth of the Brazilian Republic in 1889. In this concise but heavily illustrated study, Carvalho demonstrates how the foundational symbols created for the new republic reflected important ideological battles over the nature of the new Brazilian regime. He evaluates the acceptance or rejection of these symbols by the public, that is, their efficacy or failure in promoting the legitimization of the new political system and redefining the collective identity of Brazilians. Available for the first time in an English translation, The Formation of Souls: Imagery...
Jose Murilo de Carvalho examines the birth of the Brazilian Republic in 1889. In this concise but heavily illustrated study, Carvalho demonstrates how...
What are the consequences of different paths toward democracy? How can religion support democratic diversity? And what ongoing dilemmas do democratic governments face in reining in the armed forces that once ruled? The original essays in Problems Confronting Contemporary Democracies investigate these and other questions, which Alfred Stepan addressed in his pioneering work as one of the most prominent comparative political scientists of the past four decades. The contributors, who came together at a conference in Stepan's honor at Columbia University in 2007, pay tribute to his work and...
What are the consequences of different paths toward democracy? How can religion support democratic diversity? And what ongoing dilemmas do democratic ...
One of the most fundamental questions for social scientists involves diffusion events; simply put, how do ideas spread and why do people embrace them? In Diffusion of Good Government: Social Sector Reforms in Brazil, Natasha Borges Sugiyama examines why innovations spread across political territories and what motivates politicians to adopt them. Sugiyama does so from the vantage point of Brazilian politics, a home to innovative social sector reforms intended to provide the poor with access to state resources. Since the late 1980s, the country has undergone major policy transformations as...
One of the most fundamental questions for social scientists involves diffusion events; simply put, how do ideas spread and why do people embrace them?...
