Scott Mainwaring - Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall

This book presents a new theory for why political regimes emerge and why they subsequently survive or break down. It then analyzes the emergence, survival, and fall of democracies and dictatorships in Latin America since 1900. Scott Mainwaring and Anbal Prez-Lin argue for a theoretical approach situated between long-term structural and cultural explanations and short-term explanations that look at the decisions of specific leaders. They focus on the political preferences of powerful actors the degree to which they embrace democracy as an intrinsically desirable end and their policy radicalism to explain regime outcomes. They also demonstrate that transnational forces and influences are crucial to understand regional waves of democratization. Based on extensive research into the political histories of Latin American countries, this book offers the first extended analysis of regime emergence, survival, and failure for all of Latin America over a long period of time.

SCOTT MAINWARING is the Eugene and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. His research interests include democratic institutions, democratization, and political parties and party systems. Among his previous books are Rethinking Party Systems in the Third Wave of Democratization: The Case of Brazil (1999), The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks (co-edited, 2005), The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes (co-edited, 2006), and Democratic Governance in Latin America (co-edited, 2010). Mainwaring is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2007, he was listed as one of the 400 most cited political scientists teaching in the United States.

ANBAL PREZ-LIN is an Associate Professor of Political Science and a member of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on democratization, political institutions, and the rule of law in new democracies. He is the author of Presidential Impeachment and the New Political Instability in Latin America (2007) and has published articles in the Journal of Politics , World Politics , Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics , and Electoral Studies , among other journals. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

This book has had a long gestation, and along the way we have accumulated more intellectual debts than we can remember by now. In the late 1990s, Scott Mainwaring published two papers (Mainwaring 1999a, 1999b) that foreshadowed this book and led to our joint decision to write it. Dan Brinks and the two of us wrote an article on classifying political regimes in Latin America (Mainwaring as a Visiting Fellow.

Countless individuals provided helpful comments on articles that we produced during the early gestation years of this book; here we acknowledge those who have given suggestions since the Fall 2007 semester. Particular thanks to Frances Hagopian, Steve Levitsky, and Kurt Weyland for providing excellent input at multiple stages of our work.

In September 2008, we had a book seminar at the Kellogg Institute to discuss a very early draft of our manuscript. We benefited greatly from the comments of Daniel Brinks, Steve Levitsky, Beatriz Magaloni, Eduardo Posada-Carb, Kathryn Sikkink, and Kurt Weyland. Our gratitude goes to these individuals; to the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University Notre Dame, which provided funding for the workshop; and to Therese Hanlon, who helped organize the event.

In November 2008, we presented Chapters 1 and 2 at the Centro de Estudios de la Sociedad Civil y la Vida Pblica of the Universidad Nacional San Martn in Buenos Aires. We thank Gabriela Ipplito ODonnell for the invitation and organization and Juan Manuel Abal Medina, Marcelo Escolar, Lucas Gonzlez, Ricardo Gutirrez, Marcelo Leiras, Guillermo ODonnell, and Mara Matilde Ollier for their comments.

In November 2009, the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile, held a book workshop for us, and again, we reaped helpful comments, this time from David Altman, Rossana Castiglioni, Juan Esteban Montes, Anthony Pezzola, Rafael Pieiro, Nicols Somma, and Sergio Toro. Anthony Pezzola organized the workshop.

In May 2010, we organized another book workshop at the Kellogg Institute. We are grateful to Sergio Bejar, Taylor Boas, Sandra Botero, Dan Brinks, Michael Coppedge, Tiago Fernandes, Carlos Guevara Mann, Chad Kiewet de Jong, Carlos Melndez, Cas Mudde, and Mariela Szwarcberg for helpful comments. Therese Hanlon, Peg Hartman, and Esther Horswell helped provide support for the workshop.