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The Dilemmas of Democracy in the Open Economy: Lessons from Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2011

Marcus J. Kurtz
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Abstract

Scholars have usually understood the problem of democratic consolidation in terms of the creation of mechanisms that make possible the avoidance of populist excesses, polarized conflicts, or authoritarian corporatist inclusion that undermined free politics in much of postwar Latin America. This article makes the case that, under contemporary liberal economic conditions, the nature of the challenge for democratization has changed in important ways. Earlier problems of polarization had their roots in the long-present statist patterns of economic organization. By contrast, under free-market conditions, democratic consolidation faces a largely distinct set of challenges: the underarticulation of societal interests, pervasive social atomization, and socially uneven political quiescence founded in collective action problems. These can combine to undermine the efficacy of democratic representation and, consequently, regime legitimacy. The article utilizes data from the Latin American region since the 1970s on development, economic reform, and individual and collective political participation to show the effects of a changing state-economy relationship on the consolidation of democratic politics.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2004

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References

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46 The “before” period is defined as the five years prior to the achievement of a level of liberalization equivalent to the midpoint for the population of countries (0.587). Consolidation is measured as the five years after the reform index passes the level of 0.7 (on a [0,1] interval). In no case did a country rum away from liberalization once this level was achieved. Data on liberalization are from Morley, Samuel, Machado, Roberto, and Pettinato, Stefano, “Indexes of Structural Reform in Latin America,” Serie Reformas Económicas 12 (Santiago: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, 1999)Google Scholar.

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63 The control for size of the urban sector is included in model 1b since the measure of protest—demonstrations—is likely to be urban biased. This is true because reporting of urban protests is more likely and because the organization of collective action is in general much less difficult in such settings.

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