AUTHORITARIANISM AND DEMOCRACY

READINGS MLA, ch. 13 (“Dynamics of Political Transformation”) MLA Website, Document 14 (Rigoberta Menchú)

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

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?

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.

TWO KEY DIMENSIONS Elections Citizen Rights Question: What if they don’t go together? What about the prospect of “illiberal democracy”?

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.

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

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

Outcomes of Political Transitions, ___ %______%_______ %______%____ Outcome____ Autocracy Oligarchy Semidemocracy Democracy N transitions

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”