Democracy in Latin America: Mobilization, Power and the Search for a New Politics (Perspectives on Democratization)

This book addresses the nature of "democracy" in contemporary Latin and Central America. It offers insight into the processes and institutions of the different types of political systems and the challenges to them from the Left and popular movements. Lievesley questions how embedded democracy is and asks what constitutes citizenship in political cultures which remain highly differentiated in terms of the structures and relations of power. The framework of the book rests upon an evaluation of two distinct perspectives of democracy, the liberal pacted and the radical participatory models.