Transition to Democracy in Latin America

The editors offer a justification for producing another volume on democratization in the fact that their book is distinct from the existing literature on the subject in two ways: 1) each of the country studies focuses on factors contributing to the successful consolidation of democratic regimes and not on the transition to democracy as such; and 2) this volume has a single theoretical framework:

Each of the case studies applies a common set of concepts dealing with first, the ability of elites to reach agreements that contribute to the consolidation of new democratic regimes and, second, with circumstances that facilitate such agreements.

The editors note that there is broad agreement about the elite precondition for c

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d closely if a regime is to be called democratic. A consolidated democracy is defined as a regime that meets all the procedural criteria of a democracy and in which all politically significant groups accept established political institutions and adhere to democratic rules of the game. In such regimes, there is steadfast support for the existing democratic regime. The authors of this first essay consider the nature of the elites in different societies, the meaning of the differences between these elites, the kinds of elite transformations taking place, and so on. The authors hypothesize that the stability and long-term prospects for the survival of democratic regimes are greatly enhanced when consolidation is achieved and thus when there is broad elite consensual unity within a regime. The authors note that there are other scholars who agree with their valuation of the general importance of elite accommodation and consensus in the functioning of stable democratic regimes, and they cite the case of Arend Lijphart's concept of consociationalism, which shares 1) an appreciation of the importance of relatively inclusive, behind-the-scenes negotiations among competing elites, and 2) the contention that elite awareness of the pote
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Robert Dahl, Arend Lijphart's, Higley Gunther, Portugal Italy, Southern European, Arend Lijphart, Continental European, Almond's Anglo-American, Michael Burton, South European, democratic consolidation, latin america, democratic regimes, consociational democracy, countries latin america, elites democratic consolidation, latin american, southern europe, continental european, countries latin, political culture, america southern, latin america southern, democratic consolidation latin, america southern europe,
Approximate Word count = 1393
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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