Authoritarianism and Democracy in the Andes
State Weakness, Hybrid Regimes, and Societal Responses
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7906136 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julio Carrión, Julio F Carrión (0000-0002-0347-9315, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 222-234 |
| Publication date | 2007-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Latin American Research Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-8791 • E-ISSN: 1542-4278 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/lar.2007.0036 |
| OpenAlex | W2071003826 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
Authoritarianism and Democracy in the Andes State Weakness, Hybrid Regimes, and Societal Responses Reviewed by Julio F. Carrión University of Delaware Politics In The Andes: Identity, Conflict, Reform. Edited by Jo-Marie Burt and Philip Mauceri. (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004. Pp. 324. $59.95 cloth, $24.95 paper.) The Unraveling Of Representative Democracy In Venezuela. Edited by Jennifer L. McCoy and David Myers. (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Pp. 342. $49.95 cloth, $25.00 paper.) Fujimori's Peru: Deception In The Public Sphere. By Catherine M. Conaghan. (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. Pp. 311. $29.95 cloth, $25.95 paper.) The Andes In Focus: Security, Democracy, And Economic Reform. Edited by Russell Crandall, Guadalupe Paz, and Riordan Roett. (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005. Pp. 235. $49.95 cloth, $19.95 paper.) Market Reform In Society: Post-Crisis Politics And Economic Change In Authoritarian Peru. By Moisés Arce. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005. Pp. 169. $45.00 cloth, $25.00 paper.) The Andes (a subregion comprising Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) is in flux. In the last thirty years or so it has undergone significant demographic, economic, political, and social change. In addition to the establishment of electoral politics, the subregion is seeing a dramatic reduction in infant mortality and fertility rates, a rising life expectancy, and a gradual aging of its population (ECLAC 2005). The adoption of market reforms has had a particularly dramatic effect in the area. Unemployment and poverty have grown, income levels have shrunk, and social anomie in the form of crime has skyrocketed. It remains to be seen whether these indicators will improve as a result of the important economic growth that is taking place in the region (Inter-American Dialog 2005). [End Page 222] Topping the list of region-wide trends is certainly political instability and unrest. In recent years, this subregion (with the exception of Colombia) has seen dramatic instances of regime instability, as governments were prematurely removed from office in Bolivia, Ecuador (multiple times), and Peru. In other cases, presidents with dubious democratic credentials such as Alberto Fujimori in Peru and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela faced significant opposition manifested in massive street mobilizations and strikes. Political violence too has affected at least two of these countries, and while it has subsided in Peru, it shows no indication of easing up in Colombia. Scholarly interest has grown accordingly. In fact, we seem to be in the midst of an Andean academic "boom." In addition to the two books reviewed here that deal with the subregion as a whole, two other volumes devoted to examining politics in the Andes have just been published (Drake and Hershberg 2006; Mainwaring, Bejarano, and Pizarro Leongómez 2006); too late to be included in this review. These volumes join a mounting body of scholarship that deals with this dynamic subregion of South America.1 This growing interest is fitting. The Andean countries share more than a mere geographic proximity. They face problems and challenges that stem from common backgrounds: countries literally divided by a mountain range, crossed by ethnic divisions, plagued by poverty, and marked by legacies of political instability, violence, and authoritarianism. This commonality is apparent in the themes these books share: state weakness, authoritarianism, institutional fragility, and ambivalent societal attitudes towards democracy. State Weakness and Democracy Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan (1996) have made the compelling argument that democratization requires "stateness." As they so eloquently stated, "Democracy is a form of governance of a modern state . . . without a state, no modern democracy is possible" (17). The implication is that weak states produce weak democracies, and many of the contributions reviewed here provide plenty of evidence of this assertion. But what the experience of the Andean case also shows us is that the opposite is not necessarily true: strong states do not always produce strong democracies. Linz and
Authoritarianism · Democracy · Development economics · Economic history · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · State (computer science) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Demography · History · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Society in Latin America
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |