1. AUTHORITARIANISM AND DEMOCRACY

2. READINGS
MLA, chs 4, 13 (Central America and “Dynamics of Political Transformation”)
MLA Website, Documents 10 (Rigoberta Menchú) and 15 (Fidel Castro)

3. OUTLINE 1. Concepts: democracy and authoritarianism
2. Electoral variations
3. Transitions, To and Fro
4. Caveats

4. KEY QUESTIONS
What explains the spread of democracy in Latin America? Given authoritarian past?
What kind of democracy? What quality?
What’s new about the current phase of democratic change? How does it compare to prior periods?
What role (if any) for the United States?
What implications for U.S. relations with Latin America?

5. DEFINING PRINCIPLES
Participation, such that no substantial segment of the population is excluded from the effective pursuit of political power
Competition, such that there are free, fair, and regular contests for gaining support from the populace
Accountability, such that political rulers and elected representatives serve as “agents” of their constituents and must justify their actions and decisions in order to remain in office.

6. CATEGORIES OF ELECTORAL REGIMES
Electoral democracy = free and fair elections
Semidemocracy = elections free but not fair; or, effective power not vested in winner of elections
Competitive oligarchy = elections fair but not free; candidates restricted to socio-economic elite and suffrage restricted to minority of population
Autocracy/authoritarianism = no elections, or elections neither free not fair.

8. CODING PROCEDURES 19 países de la región (excluding Cuba)
(101 years)
Example: Argentina
oligarchic
democratic
nondemocratic
semidemocratic
nondemocratic
democratic
semidemocratic
nondemocratic
semidemocratic
1962 nondemocratic
semidemocratic
nondemocratic
democratic
nondemocratic
democratic

10. Types of Authoritarian Regime
________________Power Structure___________________
Personalist Institutionalized
Leadership
____________
Traditional Caudillo or Collective Junta or
Military “Man on Horseback” Bureaucratic-Authoritarian
Regime
Technocratic State, One-Party State or
Civilian Delegative Semi-Democracy, Corporatist Regime
or Sultanistic Despotism

13. Outcomes of Political Transitions, 1900-2000
___ %___ ___%____ ___ %___ ___%____
Outcome____
Autocracy
Oligarchy
Semidemocracy
Democracy
N transitions

14. Caveats “A weak state is a weak democracy”
Taming of democracy vs. incompetent governance
Democracy by permission
And then: the rise of the “new left”