Democracy in Latin America

"This book provides an accessible overview of Latin America's progression from a group of colonies without practice or a culture of democracy toward both forms of democracy through two centuries. It will chart the change from the post-independence period of chaos alternating with authoritarian stability, with virtually no citizen input into the political process, to today, when-despite current events-stability is the rule and broad citizen participation is the norm. It focuses on the evolution in the twentieth century from governments serving exclusively the elites to welfare states, including but not limited to Cuba, that strive to offer cradle to grave social security. It follows developments in individual countries as well as broad trends in the advances as well as the setbacks of democratization. While focusing on political and socioeconomic democratization, the book also provides a chronological history of Latin America since independence. It examines the progressive inclusion of citizens in political life and in sharing in their countries' wealth along with the periodic reversals of this progress"--