Transcript South America - People Server at UNCW

South America
Importance
economic
• Major trading partner
• Important raw materials
– Silver, gold, petroleum,
biological resources, coffee,
bananas, guano, copper, gas,
sugar, soy, iron ore, semiprecious gems
• US investment
• Acceleration of growth
• US Hispanic population
political
• Revolutionary movements and
repressive response are linked
to US Foreign policy
• How to promote US foreign
interests in the region
• US Hispanic population
• 26 countries (10 on South
American continent)
• Communism, socialism,
fascism, democracy, liberalism,
positivism, corporatism,
• Variety of religions within
dominant Catholic norm.
Characteristics
geographic
cultural
• Total land area (including
Central and Southern North
America) is 2 ½ times the size
of the USA
• Brasil alone is larger than the
USA
• Andean mountains
• Rainforest
• Arid plains (Mexico)
• Fertile grasslands (Arg)
• Desert regions, coastal
wetlands, archipelagos
• Spanish/Portuguese colonies –
language
• Indigenous populations
– Aztec, Maya, Inca civilizations
– Multiple tribal groups today
• Global immigrant population
• 3 dominant races
– White europeans, black
africans, native indians
• Urbanization
Country
Population
Area (km2)
Density
Ecuador
13,363,593
283,109
47
Colombia
42,954,279
1,138,910
37
Venezuela
25,375,281
912,050
27
Brasil
186,112,794
8,511,965
21
Peru
27,925,628
1,285,220
21
Chile
16,136,137
756,950
21
Uruguay
3,415,920
176,220
19
Paraguay
6,158,000
406,750
15
Argentina
39,537,943
2,766,890
14
Bolivia
8,857,870
1,098,580
8
Guyana
765,283
214,970
3
Suriname
438,144
163,270
2
French Guiana
195,506
91,000
2
Falklands
2,967
12,173
0.24
Total Polulation
371,239,345
Dominguez
• Elections
– Conferring legitimacy, safety valve, free expression of
preferences, accommodate differences without
derailing constitutional order
– 2006 elections
• Turnout, volume of events, free and fair, losers went away
• Inequality
– Social and economic disparities remain intense
– Globalization reveals these and consequence is status
discontent
– Government policies (Lula -Bolsa Familia; Chavezmisiones)
Dominguez
• Institutional Deficit
– Capacity to handle social pressures
– Political parties, judiciary, basic services, police,
education, etc
• Leadership Balance
– Achieving consensus to address these deficits
– Higher quality education, judicial systems are
imperative
– Question of re-election and governance
• Country specific differences/constraints
Dominguez
• Global Consensus
– Core tenets of democratic governance
– Push back on efforts to promote liberal democracy?
• Ex: OAS response to coup of Manuel Zelaya June 09 in favor
of Micheletti i(Honduras)
• US status is weak
• Dimensions of democratic governance
– Decentralization of Power
• mayoral election – performance based
• Enhanced fragmentation of power
– Media
• Press freedom – uneven progress
– Civil society
• Fragmentation or pluralism?
Hagopian
• 1978 democratic expansion
• 1990 most in region democratically elected
government
• Economic performance has varied but democracy
has endured and deepened
–
–
–
–
–
Voter turnout
Accountability
Freedom
Competition
equality
Hagopian’s Three Goals
• Chart the advances and setbacks
– 1978 – Colombia, CR and Venezuela democratic
– 2004 – only Cuba and Haiti remained
authoritarian (Haiti dem elects in 2006)
• Explain the post-1978 change
– Why is authoritarianism the exception? (Cuba)
– Why have some countries advanced
democratically and others experienced setbacks?
Hagopian’s Three Goals
• Contribute to the broader comparative
literature on democratization and
consolidation
– How does democracy survive?
– How does democracy thrive?
– How does democracy fail?
Theoretical Arguments about
Democracy
• Competitively elected regimes survive despite
poor economic performance
– Democracy lasts in hard times and inauspicious
places
– El Salvador
– Guatemala
– Bolivia
• One of the poorest
• Ethnically divided
• History of instability
Theoretical Arguments about
Democracy
• “Inhospitable” structural variables combined
with poor regime performance negatively
impacts regime solidity and quality
– Regime solidity – extent to which competitively
elected regimes are reasonably full democracies –
tendency to breakdown or erosion
– Not static: Venezuela 1989 -
Impact on other Theoretical
Approaches
• Modernization
– ????
• Dependency
– ????
– Globalization
– International factors