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11. Democracy and Populism in Latin America

Author:
Ignacio Walker
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
There appears to be an inherent tension between populism, old and new, and the institutions of representative democracy. This paper focuses on those intrinsic contradictions through a systematic analysis of old and new populism and of its relationship with political democracy. At the core of those tensions is the question of personalization versus institutionalization of power. “Old populism,” as I term it, appears as the most salient and paradigmatic Latin American response to the crisis of oligarchic rule in the 1930s and 1940s. The continuing process of “desoligarquización” may help us to explain the emergence of “neopopulism.” In contrast to old populism, which emerged in the middle of an authoritarian wave, neopopulism has emerged in the middle of a democratic wave, and thus out of the dynamics of electoral democracy. No doubt neopopulist leaders have a formal democratic legitimacy. However, neopopulist regimes appeal to the superior quality of the leader, who appears as the redeemer and the embodiment of the people and the nation. Populism is not the real problem in Latin America; rather, the real problem is the factors that cause populism, namely, the persistence of poverty and inequality, and the decomposition of traditional political institutions and elites in the region. Finally, I shall argue that Hugo Chávez is not Latin America, and Latin America is not Chávez. He may be the most visible and strident political figure, but he is not the most representative one. In fact, he is the exception and not the rule.
Topic:
Civil Society and Government
Political Geography:
Latin America

12. Political Catholicism in Revolutionary Mexico, 1900–1926

Author:
Robert Curley
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper argues that the Mexican revolution played a formative role in the construction of modern Mexican Catholicism, while Catholic politics fundamentally shaped the outcome of the 1910 revolution. The argument analyzes several distinct but related moments and their constitutive movements. Catholic social and political movements sought to 1) restore religion to secular society, 2) govern, 3) protest revolutionary fiat, 4) confront anticlericalism, 5) mobilize emerging civil society in an era of mass politics through organized labor, and 6) ultimately channel this legacy of religious-based identity through defense leagues that opted for armed conflict over political negotiation. Catholic lay associations included the Guadalupan Workers, a vanguard movement of provincial intellectuals that operated between 1909 and 1914; the National Catholic Party, which competed electorally and governed in western Mexico between 1911 and 1914; sustained parish-based movements of protest, boycott, and civil disobedience in the western Mexican state of Jalisco between 1917 and 1919; a Catholic labor confederation, which organized urban and rural working people in competition with pro-government unions between 1920 and 1925; the Popular Union, a decentralized religious defense league that operated between 1924 and 1927; and the National League in Defense of Religious Liberty, which attempted to provide leadership for Catholic armed rebellion as of 1925 and beyond. The main conclusions concern the political grounding of religiosity, the weight of state-Church conflict, and the broader historical process of secularization as a main organizing concept for interpreting the Mexican revolution. In the end, I demonstrate how Catholic militants were central to the construction of a modern state in Mexico, a state that, ironically, would be defined by their exclusion as a political group.
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:
Mexico

13. The Evolution of Authoritarian Organization in Russia under Yeltsin and Putin

Author:
Lucan A. Way
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper uses the case of Russia in the 1990s to demonstrate the utility of approaching transitional regimes not just as emerging democracies but as failed or unconsolidated authoritarian regimes. Even for many competitive or democratic regimes, it is essential to focus not just on the development of constitutions, civil society, or party systems, but on the success or failure of efforts to build institutions to eliminate opposition and maintain political control. I examine the evolution of state and party organizational strategies by Yeltsin and then Putin to consolidate power and the impact of these strategies on regime competitiveness. First, I demonstrate how state and party weakness under Yeltsin in the early 1990s promoted political contestation in important ways. In turn, stronger state and party organization under Putin undermined political competition. Next, I show how organizational strategies taken reflected a logic of learning by trial and error. The failure of initial organizational forms to reduce contestation led to adoption of new approaches, culminating in Putin's decision to create a highly centralized state structure and single ruling party.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Politics, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Russia

14. Regime Legacies and Democratization: Explaining Variance in the Level of Democracy in Latin America, 1978—2004

Author:
Scott Mainwaring and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In this paper we analyze the level of democracy achieved by 19 Latin American countries after 1977, in the period between the transitions from authoritarian rule and 2004. Our study shows enduring regime legacies: despite authoritarian interruptions in the past, the best predictor of the current level of democracy is the country's experience with competitive politics during the “first” (1900–44) and the “second” (1945–77) waves (and counter waves) of democratization. We document the impact of regime legacies using a fixed-effects vector decomposition model. Our finding resembles, but does not strictly confirm, theoretical claims about “path dependence” in democratization.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
Latin America

15. Confronting Colonialism: Maryknoll Catholic Missionaries in Peru and Guatemala, 1943–968

Author:
Susan Fitzpatrick Behrens
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
My goal in writing this paper was to try to explain how Catholicism became embedded in the social and political structures of Peru and Guatemala and how this affected Maryknoll proselytization in Puno and Huehuetenango in the twentieth century. I argue that during the colonial period Catholic clergy served as intermediaries between indigenous communities and Spanish officials. The character of their relationship depended on local demands for labor and was, as a result, distinct in Peru and Guatemala. Demand for labor was consistently high in Puno because it was near the site of the Potosí mines, recognized as the most important source of income for the Spanish crown during the colonial period. This relationship ensured that Catholic clergy acted as enforcers of Spanish efforts to dominate indigenous communities. For their part, Andean caciques charged with protecting community interests and mediating with Spanish officials sought to limit incursions by Spanish clergy, economic elites, and governing officials. By contrast, Guatemala was an economic backwater during the colonial period. Spanish clergy came to act as “defenders of the Indians” in opposition to the interests of Spanish economic elites and governing officials. Mayan people engaged with Catholicism to restructure their communities and to establish barriers to incursions by outsiders.
Topic:
Civil Society and Religion
Political Geography:
South America, Yugoslavia, Peru, and Guatemala

16. The Future of Christianity in Latin America

Author:
Daniel H. Levine
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The public face of religion in Latin America has been transformed in the last half century, with important implications for the future. The Christianity of the future will be marked by vigorous competition and growing pluralism in an increasingly open and competitive civil society and political order. The origins of this diversity are located in changes within the region's long dominant Catholicism, combined with the surge of new Protestant and in particular Pentecostal churches. Both of these trends make sense in the context of social and political transformations that have moved major countries of the region out of civil war and authoritarianism into civil and competitive politics which draw the churches into public space in new ways. The impact of violence on the churches is visible in their new openness to issues of rights and freedom of organization, but also in a withdrawal from direct political engagement and a diversification of political positions in all the churches.
Topic:
Civil Society and Religion
Political Geography:
Latin America

17. Latin America and the Catholic Church: Points of Convergence and Divergence (encontros e desencontros) 1960–2005

Author:
Luiz Alberto Gómez de Souza
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The author aims at uncovering points of convergence and divergence in the relationship between the Catholic Church and society. He begins by analyzing the challenges facing the Church in modern times, using the case of the United States and the traditional political relationship between Church and State in Latin America until the rise of the social-Christian options in the 1960s. He then describes Vatican II, which opened the Church to the influences of modern times. Subsequently, the author explains what he calls the “glorious period” of the Latin American Church, from the conference of bishops in Medellin (1968) to the meeting in Puebla (1979), with the Church's critique of “social sin,” its option for the poor, and liberation theology. Concurrently, the author shows the contradictory effects of the military regimes in the region. Looking at the relationship between Christians and politics, he analyzes in particular the case of Brazil, later expanding his analysis to Latin America and the world. The author then addresses social participation and politics in ecclesiastical practices and the slow building of democracy in the region, offering methodological criticisms of some static and nonhistorical analyses. He delineates how democracy has challenged the Church and, looking ahead, explores the present dynamism of society, especially the virtuosity of social movements and ecclesiastical communities when facing future transformation. The author ends by describing the current situation in Latin America, highlighting the pressing need for the Church to face issues that are presently frozen (such as sexuality, celibacy, and women as priests), in the hopes of a possible Council process in the future.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Brazil, South America, and Latin America

18. Radical Democracy in the Andes: Indigenous Parties and the Quality of Democracy in Latin America

Author:
Donna Lee Van Cott
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
I explore whether recently formed indigenous political parties in Ecuador and Bolivia are fulfilling their promise to improve the quality of local government by establishing institutions that promote intercultural cooperation and the participation of individuals and civil society groups. To the extent that such improvements have occurred, I seek to identify the conditions under which they succeed. I argue that under certain conditions even "least-likely cases" for the establishment of radical democratic models can produce positive changes in relations among hostile ethnic groups, shift resources toward underserved populations, and create spaces for citizens and civil society groups to deliberate public spending priorities. Such models are most likely to work when indigenous parties and their social movement sponsors are able to (1) maintain internal unity and solidarity; (2) develop distinct, complementary roles; (3) attract charismatic, talented mayors who are willing and able to work across ethnic lines; (4) reelect successful mayors; and (5) attract resources and technical support from external donors.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, Ecuador, and Bolivia

19. Venezuela: Popular Sovereignty versus Liberal Democracy

Author:
Michael Coppedge
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In order to evaluate accurately the state of democratic governance during the first years of the Chávez presidency, one must sharpen the distinction between democracy narrowly defined as popular sovereignty versus the more conventional notion of liberal democracy. Venezuela was no longer a liberal democracy in every respect. Instead, it became an extreme case of delegative democracy. The president enjoyed widespread popular support for almost everything he and his followers did, and this fact qualified his government as "democratic" in the narrow sense of popular sovereignty. But the systematic elimination of constraints on presidential action after 1998 increased the risk that Venezuela would cease to be a democracy by any definition in the future.
Topic:
Civil Society and Government
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, and Venezuela

20. The Impact of an Indigenous Counterpublic Sphere on the Practice of Democracy: The Taller de Historia Oral Andina in Bolivia

Author:
Marcia Stephenson
Publication Date:
09-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the impact of an indigenous counterpublic sphere in contemporary Bolivia. It argues that the elaboration of the indigenous counterpublic sphere as an arena of oppositional consciousness locates agency in indigenous peoples and challenges prevailing practices that would relegate them to the category of premodern Other. Examining specifically the work carried out by the Aymara nongovernmental organization known as the Taller de Historia Oral Andina [Andean Oral History Workshop], the essay underscores the significance of the indigenous counterpublic sphere in Bolivia not only as a discursive arena but also as an autonomous spatial or territorial arena where Andean cultural and political identities can be enacted and legitimated.
Topic:
Civil Society and Government
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, and Bolivia