The New Politics of Inequality in Latin America: Rethinking Participation and Representation
Douglas A. Chalmers, Carlos M. Vilas, Katherine Hite, Scott B. Martin, Kerianne Piester, and Monique Segarra
Abstract
Almost all agree that political systems in Latin America underwent a transformation in the 1980s. The usual quick description of this change was ‘democratization’. But whether one takes an optimistic or a pessimistic view of the level of democracy that was achieved, one thing was sure—the traditional forms of participation by, and representation of, the poor, the working population, and others structurally disadvantaged had changed. The chapters examine the labour organizations, political parties, indigenous and environmental groups that have emerged, sometimes amidst new forms of violence. Ot ... More
Almost all agree that political systems in Latin America underwent a transformation in the 1980s. The usual quick description of this change was ‘democratization’. But whether one takes an optimistic or a pessimistic view of the level of democracy that was achieved, one thing was sure—the traditional forms of participation by, and representation of, the poor, the working population, and others structurally disadvantaged had changed. The chapters examine the labour organizations, political parties, indigenous and environmental groups that have emerged, sometimes amidst new forms of violence. Others recount efforts to rebuild social–democratic projects and to create new models of participatory politics in municipalities and around social programmes. There is no consensus on whether these new forms will produce more democracy. Rather, the chapters present a variety of conceptual tools to identify trends and assess their impact.
Keywords:
democracy,
labour unions,
NGOs,
participation,
Popular mobilization,
popular representation,
social programmes,
violence
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 1997 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198781837 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003 |
DOI:10.1093/0198781830.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Douglas A. Chalmers, editor
Columbia University
Author Webpage
Carlos M. Vilas, editor
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Katherine Hite, editor
Columbia University
Author Webpage
Scott B. Martin, editor
Columbia University
Author Webpage
Kerianne Piester, editor
Columbia University
Monique Segarra, editor
Columbia University
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