LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT: Fourth Edition

The fourth edition of this highly regarded text has been completely revised and updated to reflect the complex political and economic developments that have occurred in Latin America in the 1990s. In the new introductory section, Wiarda and Kline emphasize the trend toward elected, democratic governments while underlining the difficulties of establishing democracy in a region still characterized by inequitable distribution of income, the legacy of large debts, and violence stemming from the drug trade. Exploring the patterns of political development, they also discuss the dynamics of political behavior and examine the tensions between those who favor a political regime in keeping with the authoritarian past and those who are working to establish democracy.In the second section of the book, distinguished experts on the region present thoroughly up-to-date analyses of each of the South American, Central American, and Caribbean countries. In the final section, the editors offer their conclusions about the promise and pitfalls of democracy in the region.

Howard J. Wiarda is Dean Rusk Professor of International Relations and head of the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia, and Senior Scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. He is la member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the author or editor of numerous Westview books including An Introduction to Latin American Politics and Development (with Harvey Kline) and Civil Society: The American Model and Third World Development . He is also a contributing co-editor (with Harvey Kline) of Latin American Politics and Development , Sixth Edition (2007, Westview). Harvey Kline is professor of Political Science at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He is a member of the Inter-American Dialogue and the author of Colombia: Democracy under Assault , Second Edition (1995, Westview), An Introduction to Latin American Politics and Development , Second Edition (with Howard J. Wiarda), and Latin American Politics and Development, Sixth Edition (with Howard J. Wiarda).