Elites and democratic consolidation in Latin America and southern Europe

Abstract

Employing a framework that focuses on the actions and choices of elites in creating consolidated democracies, this book examines the recent transitions to democracy and the prospects for democratic stability in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Uruguay. The role of elites in creating, democratizing, and consolidating the longer-established regimes in Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, and Venezuela is also assessed, and an analysis of the stable but not very democratic Mexican regime is presented. The authors argue that in independent states with long records of politcal instability and authoritarian rule, democratic consolidation requires consensus on specific democratic institutions and rules of the game, as well as increased integration, among previously hostile elites. Two processes by which this elite configuration can be established are explored in detail: elite settlements, in which elites suddenly and deliberately negotiate compromises on their most basic and disruptive disputes, and elite convergences, in which a series of tactical decisions by rival elites gradually leads to procedural consensus and increased integration. -from Publisher