La durabilidad de la democracia en América Latina, 1940-1998

Authors

  • Scott Mainwaring

Abstract

In this paper I document a sharp increase in the number of democracies and a demise of authoritarianism in Latin America in the period since 1978. I claim that three factors help explain the increasing survivability of democracy in Lati n America. The first explanation revolves around the structural transformations unleashed by modernization: urbanization, growing literacy, greater wealth, a larger working class, and the gradual reduction of the political power of the landed elite. Second, from the left to the right of the spectrum, political attitudes changed in Latin America in the 1980's, toward a growing valorization of democracy. Finally, international support for de-mocracy, especially from the United States, increased in the second half of the 1980's. In an era of growing internationalization in Latin America, new institutional mechanisms hart. formed to help protect democracy.

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How to Cite

Mainwaring, S. (1999). La durabilidad de la democracia en América Latina, 1940-1998. Política Y Gobierno, 6(2), 315-363. http://www.politicaygobierno.cide.edu/index.php/pyg/article/view/449