This module examines long-term processes of democratization in contemporary Latin America, focusing both on key analytic themes and the national experiences of individual countries. The cases of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela provide the principal empirical bases for a consideration of these issues.

The first part of the module analyzes the historically significant processes of democratic regime change that swept much of Latin America after the early 1980s. Readings and lectures identify core concepts and terms of debate (including the question of how “democracy” should be defined, the indeterminance of transition processes, and so forth), distinguish among different models of regime change (especially “actor-centred” versus “structural” models of democratization) and consider the domestic and international forces that contributed to the breakdown of authoritarian regimes and subsequent transitions to political democracy in a number of countries. This material sets the stage for an examination of both individual country experiences and the role of particular actors (political parties, the armed forces, the Roman Catholic Church, labour unions, human rights movements, and so forth) in democratic transitions.

The second part of the module highlights the multiple challenges facing contemporary Latin American democracies. Readings and lectures provide the basis for a thematic investigation of the role of political parties and other forms of representation, social movements (including indigenous movements) and the struggle for citizenship rights, and international dimensions of democratization in the region.

One way of assessing the contemporary character of democracy in Latin America is to examine the changing role of political forces on both the left and the right of the political spectrum. The readings and lectures in the final section of the course do so by analyzing recent developments in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela.