UNC Press - Incomplete Democracy

<SPAN STYLE= "" >Incomplete Democracy</SPAN>

224 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, notes, index

Paper

ISBN 978-0-8078-5483-9

Published: October 2003

Incomplete Democracy

Political Democratization in Chile and Latin America

By Manuel Antonio Garretón

Translated by R. Kelly Washbourne with Gregory Horvath

One of Latin America's leading sociologists, Manuel Antonio Garretón explores contemporary challenges to democratization in Latin America in this work originally published in Spanish in 1995. He pays particular attention to the example of Chile, analyzing the country's return to democracy and its hopes for continued prosperity following the 1973 coup that overthrew democratically elected president Salvador Allende.

Garretón contends that the period of democratic crisis and authoritarian rule that characterized much of Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s was symptomatic of a larger breakdown in the way society and government worked. A new era emerged in Chile at the end of the twentieth century, Garretón argues--an era that partakes of the great changes afoot in the larger world. This edition updates Garretón's analysis of developments in Chile, considering the administration of current president Ricardo Lagos. The author concludes with an exploration of future prospects for democracy in Latin America.

About the Author

Manuel Antonio Garretón, one of Latin America's foremost political sociologists, is professor of sociology at the University of Chile. He is author and editor of more than three dozen books. R. Kelly Washbourne is a translator, poet, and assistant professor of modern and classical language studies at Kent State University. Gregory Horvath is a translator and editor living in New York City.

Reviews

"I highly recommend this book by one of Latin America's most prominent political sociologists. It brings together a valuable set of connected essays addressing central issues regarding contemporary challenges to democratization in Latin America and specifically in Chile."
--Jonathan Hartlyn, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"A valuable and thought-provoking collection of writings by a master Latin American social scientist."
--E.I.A.L.

"A reflective work evaluating the state of democracy in Chile. . . . Interesting and thought-provoking."
--Latin American Research Review

"This translation clearly presents the complex analyses of a profound thinker, one who excels at elucidating the subtleties, contradictions, and paradoxes of today's democracies. . . . This powerful combination of the general and the particular renders this publication valuable for graduate courses. . . . [Readers] should welcome this visit with a brilliant mind tackling some of the central problems in Latin America and Chile over the last 30 years. For political and other social scientists concerned with the region, with democracy, and with political sociology, Incomplete Democracy constitutes essential reading."
--Perspectives on Politics

"An important addition to our understanding [of] Chile's success in democratization and the difficulties the Latin American region faces. . . . Garretón contributes . . . to our understanding of the important contribution of civil society to the future success or failure of democratization in Latin America."
--Americas