Description
This course is an introduction to the politics of Latin America. In the first part of the course, we will trace the 20th century political development of Chile and Mexico, and we will pay particular attention to how each country democratized and the strategies that their governments adopted to promote economic development and mitigate the destabilizing effects of inequality. In the second part of the course, we will turn our attention to Venezuela and Brazil and we will use these cases to explore the causes and consequences of Latin America’s economic liberalization in the 1990s and the rise of the “New Left” in the 2000s. In the final part of the course, we will use examples from throughout the region to investigate the ways that political institutions shape politics in Latin America and the roles that populism, clientelism and ethnic politics play in mobilizing political support. Class meetings will consist of a mixture of lecture and small and large group discussion. Some class days will focus on the historical background of our four main cases, others will focus on major theoretical approaches in Latin American politics, while others will be devoted to analyzing current events, including this year’s elections in Mexico and Brazil and the economic and political crisis in Venezuela.
Slides
1 Introduction and Course Overview
Unit I: Chile: Democracy and Development in an Unequal Society
5 The Chilean Road to Socialism
6 Understanding the Breakdown of Chilean Democracy
7 Chile's Transition to Democracy
8 Human Rights and Transitional Justice
9 Chile Under the Concertación and Beyond
Unit II: Mexico: The Rise and Fall of Hegemonic-Party Rule
10 The Mexican Revolution and the PRI
12 The Decline of PRI Hegemony
13 Mexico's 2018 Election
Unit III: Venezuela and Brazil: Economic Reform and the “Pink Tide”
15 Brazil: The "Deadlocked Democracy"
16 Neoliberal Reforms and the Pink Tide
17 The Rise and Consolidation of Chavismo in Venezuela
18 Venezuela's Economic and Political Crisis
20 The Politics of Impeachment
Unit IV: Political Institutions
24 Federalism and Subnational Politics
Unit V: Politics On The Ground
28 The Future of Latin American Democracy
Assignments