The Road to Democracy in Latin America
The Road to Democracy in Latin America
By
Arneida McDonald International Political Problems Strayer University Chesapeake, VA 23320
Email: arneida.mcdonald@navy.mil
Democracy in Latin America: Success, Challenge and the Future The Latin American political scene today offers no perspectives for revolutionary change in the sense of break in the class politico-institutional order, even though the factors that traditionally create the substantive or objective conditions for the unfolding of revolutionary processes are present: namely, growing poverty, a general deterioration in the standard of living, a lack of socio-economic perspectives, insufficient access to basic resources for large sections of the Latin American population, both rural and urban. The interest of the task force is in identifying economic policies that will strengthen the economic progress of the countries of the hemisphere without undermining their near-universal commitment to democracy. It is in terms of economic progress that so many Latin American countries had turned in disappointing results ever since the start of the debt crisis in 1982. But we are seeking to remedy this without jeopardizing the area in which the region has by most people’s standards made historic progress since 1982, is establishing democracy. There is a small but pretty robust econometric literature on the relationship between democracy and growth (e. g., Barro 1996, Helliwell 1994, Svensson 1999, Tavares and Wacziarg 2001). There is a little evidence has much impact on growth overall; some channels are favorable, some are unfavorable but overall the effect is at best modest. The net effect may be slightly negative, but this effect is neither definite nor powerful enough to change the mind of anyone who believes in the value of democracy for its own sake. In contrast, there is strong evidence to believe
By
Arneida McDonald International Political Problems Strayer University Chesapeake, VA 23320
Email: arneida.mcdonald@navy.mil
Democracy in Latin America: Success, Challenge and the Future The Latin American political scene today offers no perspectives for revolutionary change in the sense of break in the class politico-institutional order, even though the factors that traditionally create the substantive or objective conditions for the unfolding of revolutionary processes are present: namely, growing poverty, a general deterioration in the standard of living, a lack of socio-economic perspectives, insufficient access to basic resources for large sections of the Latin American population, both rural and urban. The interest of the task force is in identifying economic policies that will strengthen the economic progress of the countries of the hemisphere without undermining their near-universal commitment to democracy. It is in terms of economic progress that so many Latin American countries had turned in disappointing results ever since the start of the debt crisis in 1982. But we are seeking to remedy this without jeopardizing the area in which the region has by most people’s standards made historic progress since 1982, is establishing democracy. There is a small but pretty robust econometric literature on the relationship between democracy and growth (e. g., Barro 1996, Helliwell 1994, Svensson 1999, Tavares and Wacziarg 2001). There is a little evidence has much impact on growth overall; some channels are favorable, some are unfavorable but overall the effect is at best modest. The net effect may be slightly negative, but this effect is neither definite nor powerful enough to change the mind of anyone who believes in the value of democracy for its own sake. In contrast, there is strong evidence to believe
Citations: David Rockefeller (2002, Fall). Harvard Review of Latin America [Special issue]. Re Vista Magazine, International Republican Institute “IRI” (2007, April) Dobriansky, P. J. (June 21, 2006). Statement. U.S. Department of State (vol. 38, pp. 745-758). Chicago: Forty-One Publishing. Wilson, J. C. (2001). Scientific research papers. In Stewart, J. H. (Ed.), Research papers that work (pp. 123-256). New York: Lucerne Publishing.