At the advent of the 21st Century, after collapse of both Communist and military fascist regimes in South America, Latin America has the unique opportunity to forge a new path and create a new political identity. Both Thomas Wright (2000) and Forrest Colburn (2002), however, point out that despite the watershed period that Latin America is facing at this point in history, the energy and the will of those citizens who could create that new identity is at an all time low. Indeed, both Wright and Colburn discuss whether this could be the end of politics with a capital "P" in Latin America. This paper will examine the messages set forth by these two authors in regards to the future of South America as well as critique the effectiveness of those articles.
Colburn in Latin American at the End of Politics (2002) uses different essays, or "Chapters," in his book to show "windows" on Latin American life. The author admits "no effort to be comprehensive could be successful" since he must be "selective" (Colburn, 2002, p. 5). Yet, he does attempt to bring off a well-balanced picture of the socio-political scene in contemporary Latin America. Additionally, although this book may be considered a secondary resource, because Colburn uses first hand accounts of life in Latin America in some of the chapters, the discussion is more compelling. Colburn's most apparent point is, since nature abhors a vacuum, in the face of no political movements standard political liberalism and free-market economies have taken over. As Colburn points out (2002), a vigorous democracy evolves through healthy competition between political parties. Rather than developing human and civil rights along with expanding the economy, however, equality is being shuffled to the back while most people concentrate on the accumulation of material goods (Colburn, 2002). After Colburn's discussion, there is then a chapter, "Fragile Democracies," which traces the recent politic...