Latin American Politics and Society: A Comparative and Historical Analysis

Preface; Introduction: Latin American politics and society; Part I. A Historical Overview: 1. The state and state capacity; 2. Nation building, race, and ethnicity; 3. Political regimes and democracy; 4. Development models and socioeconomic welfare; Part II. Problems of Democracy in a Democratic Age: 5. Democracy and the quality of democracy: the never-ending quest; 6. Political inclusion and institutional innovations: women, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and ordinary people; 7. Political parties and the citizen-politician link: the persistent crisis of representation; Part III. Civil Rights as a Problem for Democracy: 8. The protection of civil rights: a pending task for democracies; 9. Transitional justice: responses to past human rights violations; 10. High-level corruption: public officials against the public interest; 11. The new violence: homicides, drugs, and the state; Part IV. Social Rights as a Problem for Democracy: 12. Social rights in law and reality: the dilemmas of democracy in unequal societies; 13. Sustainable development and neoextractivism: growth, the environment, and social action; 14. Basic social inclusion and social policy: CCTs as a poverty reduction policy; 15. Unequal democracies: the paradox of political equality and social inequality; Conclusion: 16. Latin America in perspective: lessons and prospects; Appendix. A timeline of Latin America; Glossary; References; Index.

University of Southern California; University of Southern California; Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile