Democratic Disequilibrium in Venezuela

1995 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. McCoy ◽  
William C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Scholarly Research ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Rules Of The Game

Venezuela's contemporary politics poses a problematic different from those predominating in the literature on democratization. Scholarly research in the last decade focused first on the crisis of authoritarian rule and the ensuing transition to civilian governments, with the reestablishment of electoral procedures, and, more recently, on the problems of the consolidation of a democratic regime, including alternation in power, universal acceptance of the rules of the game, and generation of a democratic political culture.The challenges confronting Venezuela are not those of transition or consolidation but, rather, the decomposition — or deconsolidation — of an established democratic regime. In other Latin American countries in recent decades, longstanding models of statist development developed crises that led, in turn, to complex transformations in the economy and in society. One consequence of these changes was that authoritarian regimes began a transition to more democratic forms of governance.

scholarly journals Chile’s Citizenship Education Curriculum: Priorities and Silences Through Two Decades

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristián Cox ◽  
Carolina Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
The Common ◽  
Latin American Countries

The article examines the evolution of the citizenship education curriculum in Chilean secondary education over last two decades from the perspective of the relevance of its contents for a democratic culture. The evidence and its analysis show the variations observed in the curricula are not related so much to the ideology of the governments that enact them as to socio-cultural changes of a macro nature, such as the growing emphasis on rights and participation. The analysis confirms some deficits common to the curricula, which have implications for the development of the democratic political culture in Chile. Among these are the scarce or null presence of the values of solidarity, the common good, and social cohesion, as well as a paradox of quasi-silence about voting, common in the curricula of Latin American countries and which is contrasted with the treatment of voting in the curricula of France and England.

On the Rise of Postwar Military Dictatorships: Argentina, Chile, Greece

1986 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicos Mouzelis
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
Sociocultural Differences ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Latin American Countries

Despite marked geographical and sociocultural differences, Greece and the two major southern-cone Latin American countries share a significant number of characteristics which distinguish them from most other peripheral and semiperipheral societies. Although they began industralisation late and failed to industrialise fully in the last century, all three countries managed to develop an important infrastructure (roads, railways) during the second half of the nineteenth century, and they achieved a notable degree of industrialisation in the years following each of the two world wars. Moreover, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, all three countries were subjugated parts of huge patrimonial empires (the Ottoman and the Iberian) and thus had never experienced the absolutist past of western and southern European societies. Finally, all three acquired their political independence in the early nineteenth century and very soon adopted parliamentary forms of political rule; and despite the constant malfunctioning of their representative institutions, relatively early urbanisation and the creation of a large urban middle class provided a framework within which bourgeois parliamentarism took strong roots and showed remarkable resilience. It persisted, albeit intermittently, from the second half of the nineteenth century until the rise of military bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes in the 1960s and 1970s and, as the Greek and Argentinian cases suggest, such regimes do not necessarily entail the irreversible decline of parliamentary democracy.

Disconnected Fire Alarms and Ineffective Police Patrols: Legislative Oversight in Postauthoritarian Chile

2000 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Siavelis
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Fire Alarm ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Police Patrol ◽  
Legislative Oversight ◽  
Latin American Countries

In many Latin American countries, corruption and administrative inefficiency have emerged as significant threats to democracy and governability. This case study employs McCubbins and Schwartz’s U.S.-centered model of “fire alarm” and “police patrol” oversight to analyze how effectively Chile’s Congress has conducted its oversight functions. Chile’s experience with authoritarian rule, the weakening of Congress, and changes in the relationships between citizens and state institutions have undermined its tradition of fire alarm oversight, forcing Congress to rely on less-effective police patrol activities.

Party Systems and Redistribution in Democratic Latin America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Mauro
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Over Time

A redistributive wave across Latin America provided credence to existing explanations that emphasize the importance of democracy and the political left for democratic redistribution. Yet, neither of these theories tells the entire story behind the contemporary politics of inequality in Latin America. This article stresses the importance of party systems for democratic redistribution, especially their role in increasing the scope of social policy as well as igniting competitive electoral environments that incentivize political elites to redistribute, leading to the amelioration of inequality over time. Utilizing a time-series cross-sectional dataset on fifteen Latin American countries covering the period of 1990–2015, and extending the analysis to sixty-five global democracies, this article finds that countries with institutionalized party systems exhibit greater income redistribution and lower levels of inequality than those with inchoate counterparts.

scholarly journals The populist citizen: Empirical evidence from Europe and Latin America

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser ◽  
Steven M. Van Hauwaert
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sociodemographic Characteristics ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Party Support ◽  
Distinct Features ◽  
Latin American Countries

AbstractScholars are increasingly interested in ‘populist attitudes’, which – studies show – can explain party support and vote choice. However, current research has not yet analyzed in detail the characteristics of those individuals with populist proclivities, or so-called populist citizens. To address this research gap, we harmonize survey data on populist attitudes for nine European countries, five Latin American countries, and Turkey in order to uncover shared or distinct features of populist citizens. Our findings are threefold. First, we identify differences in the sociodemographic characteristics of populist citizens, notably between Europe and Latin America. Second, we find similar patterns of heterogeneity in the political features of populist citizens. Third, we show that populist citizens across all countries have the same democratic profile. They systematically support democracy over other forms of government, while being dissatisfied with its implementation. This suggests populist attitudes are intrinsic to the political culture of contemporary democracies.

Democratic Stability and Its Limits: An Analysis of Chile's 1993 Elections

1994 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo L. Munck
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
New Right ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Success Story ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Latin American Region ◽  
Democratic Stability ◽  
Latin American Countries

Once again, Chile stands out within the Latin American region. In the early 1970s, Salvador Allende's brand of socialism attracted worldwide attention and captured the imagination of the international Left. In the years thereafter, Pinochet's authoritarianism set the pace for a global resurgence of the new Right. Finally, in just the last few years, Chile has become a symbol of a new sort, rapidly establishing itself as a democratic success story. Chile's democratic progress becomes especially evident when viewed alongside the large set of Latin American countries that have democratized since the late 1970s. Indeed, an analysis of the last presidential and congressional elections in Chile (11 December 1993) indicates that it has undoubtedly made greater strides toward democratic consolidation than any other country in Latin America — all the more striking when one considers that its transition from authoritarian rule was concluded only as recently as 1990.

The Book in the Iberian Atlantic, 1492–1824

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia Roldán Vera
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Print Culture ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
Geographic Space ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Independence Era ◽  
Latin American Countries

The Atlantic world has not only been a geographic space for the exchange of people and products. Since the 16th century, it has also been a cultural space for the production, exchange, diffusion, reading, and rewriting of printed objects. Historians of the independence era constructed the view that Latin America had been “closed to the outside world” during the years of the Spanish and Portuguese domination; however, later research has shown that this was not the case. Latin American countries, especially from the 18th century onward, were part of a print network through which all kinds of information was being produced, circulated, and read. During the Spanish Enlightenment, especially at the time of the wars of independence (1808–1824), this circulation intensified. The end of the Spanish and Portuguese trade monopoly in the region, changes in the regime of print rights, technological developments that lowered the costs of publishing, and transformations of the forms of sociability that the wars of independence themselves generated gave way to an explosion of print all over the Atlantic word. Newspapers, pamphlets, and books on topics that were not only religious but also political, literary, satirical, and educational were printed and circulated in the region. This helped to change forever the way the Latin Americans viewed themselves and contributed to the formation of new nations. Although the circulation of ideas throughout the Atlantic does not account for the development of political and social transformations that led to the independence of the Latin American countries, print culture and political culture are connected in many different ways. This article explores some of these forms of interaction.

scholarly journals Integration in Latin America: centripetal and centrifugal trends

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
Petr P. Yakovlev
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
Technological Cooperation ◽  
Political Interaction ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Future ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Rules Of The Game

Latin American countries were the first in the developing world on the path of economic integration. In the region, back in the early 1960’s were created the integration groupings, with the aim of strengthening trade ties between the neighboring States and their position in the world economy. As a result, the integration process has been going on for about six decades, transforming the economies of Latin America. Integration largely determines the main vectors of development of foreign trade relations, affects the direction of cross-border investment flows, strengthens corporate relationships and the emergence of various forms of production cooperation, stimulates scientific and technological cooperation, “pushes” the countries of the region towards closer political interaction. At the same time Latin American integration appears a complex and contradictory phenomenon, its history has known periods of high activity and long pauses, reversals, attempts by individual States to revise the rules of the game, receive unilateral benefits. In recent years, the integration process in Latin America acquires new features and characteristics, increasing its importance for the social and economic future of the region.

Test Use in Spain, Portugal and Latin American Countries

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Muñiz ◽  
Gerardo Prieto ◽  
Leandro Almeida ◽  
Dave Bartram
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Test Construction ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Psychometric Characteristics ◽  
Testing Practices ◽  
Professional Psychologists ◽  
Test Use ◽  
Latin American Countries

Summary: The two main sources of errors in educational and psychological evaluation are the lack of adequate technical and psychometric characteristics of the tests, and especially the failure to properly implement the testing process. The main goal of the present research is to study the situation of test construction and test use in the Spanish-speaking (Spain and Latin American countries) and Portuguese-speaking (Portugal and Brazil) countries. The data were collected using a questionnaire constructed by the European Federation of Professional Psychologists Association (EFPPA) Task Force on Tests and Testing, under the direction of D. Bartram . In addition to the questionnaire, other ad hoc data were also gathered. Four main areas of psychological testing were investigated: Educational, Clinical, Forensic and Work. Key persons were identified in each country in order to provide reliable information. The main results are presented, and some measures that could be taken in order to improve the current testing practices in the countries surveyed are discussed. As most of the tests used in these countries were originally developed in other cultures, a problem that appears to be especially relevant is the translation and adaptation of tests.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document