Incomplete Democracy in Central America

Polarization and Voter Turnout in Nicaragua and El Salvador

Bibliographic Data

ID4901686
AuthorsWilliam A Barnes (University of Michigan, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume40
Issue3
Pages63-101
Publication date1998-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-1937 • E-ISSN: 2162-2736
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/166200
OpenAlexW4229705914
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited53

Until relatively recently, the small, poor countries of Central America were typically regarded as particularly poor candidates for democratization, despite a good measure of early and sustained success in Costa Rica (Ebel 1972, 1984; Rosenberg 1987). Nevertheless, over the years 1984-1996, "transitions to democracy" have been realized throughout the region. Given the extremely negative economic conditions of the 1980s and 1990s and the extent and historical intractability of political violence in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, these transitions via peace processes and "elections of the century" are remarkable achievements. Still, the fullness and consolidation of democracy remain very much up in the air, as is widely the case among countries that have experienced some degree of democratic transition during the last two decades (the so-called "third wave"). This situation raises the prospect of a historical era in which the poorer provinces of the globe are populated largely by "hybrid regimes" that are, at best, highly incomplete democracies

Consolidation (business) · Democracy · Democratic consolidation · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Geography · Globe · Polarization (electrochemistry) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Society in Latin America

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