[Download] "Democratic Representation in Latin America: Old and New Challenges." by Canadian Parliamentary Review ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Democratic Representation in Latin America: Old and New Challenges.
- Author : Canadian Parliamentary Review
- Release Date : January 22, 1997
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 249 KB
Description
With the sole exception of Cuba, all contemporary Latin American countries function within the framework of democratic electoral systems. These democratic systems provide citizens with an unprecedented capacity to elect their governments and representatives. For some this fact represents a definitive triumph of democracy over tyranny in an area of the world that has been typically portrayed as the land of Generales, Comandantes, and Caudillos. For others electoral democracy in Latin America is simply an illusion; a historical irrelevancy that does not change the reality of poverty and inequality in the region. This article argues that the consolidation of democratic rule in Latin America requires the dismantling and transformation of some historical and cultural embedded patterns of relations between state and society. However, it is not only these historical and cultural patterns that Latin Americans have to overcome to consolidate democratic institutions. They also have to conquer a future that, because of the forces of globalization, will not always be favourable to democracy. This future belongs to "globalization." Andres Perez is professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario.