Christian Democracy swept across parts of Latin America, gaining influence in Venezuela in the 1940s, Chile in the 1950s, El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1960s, and Costa Rica and Mexico in the 1980s. This book offers an overview of Christian Democracy in the region— underscoring its remarkable diversity—and examines the Christian Democratic organizations of Chile and Mexico, which are still major parties today. The concluding section analyzes the demise of formerly significant Christian Democratic parties in El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, and Venezuela. Christian Democracy in Latin America provides the definitive stufy of the nature, rise, and decline of Christian Democracy in Latin America. The book enriches the broader theoretical literature on political parties by highlighting the distinctive strategic dilemmas parties face, and the distinctive objectives they pursue, in contexts of fragile democracy or of authoritarian regimes.

Christian Democratic actors and thinkers have been at the forefront of many of the twentieth century's key political battles - from the construction of the international human rights regime, through the process of European integration and the creation of postwar welfare regimes, to Latin American development policies during the Cold War. Yet their core ideas remain largely unknown, especially in the English-speaking world. Combining conceptual and historical approaches, Carlo Invernizzi Accetti traces the development of this ideology in the thought and writings of some of its key intellectual and political exponents, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. In so doing he sheds light on a number of important contemporary issues, from the question of the appropriate place of religion in presumptively 'secular' liberal-democratic regimes, to the normative resources available for building a political response to the recent rise of far-right populism.

This book focuses on the political exile of Catholic Christian Democrats during the global twentieth century, from the end of the First World War to the end of the Cold War. Transcending the common national approach, the present volume puts transnational perspectives at center stage and in doing so aspires to be a genuinely global and longitudinal study. Political Exile in the Global Twentieth Century includes chapters on continental European exile in the United Kingdom and North America through 1945; on Spanish exile following the Civil War (1936–39), throughout the Franco dictatorship; on East-Central European exile from the defeat of Nazi Germany and the establishment of Communist rule (1944–48) through the end of the Cold War; and Latin American exile following the 1973 Chilean coup. Encompassing Europe (both East and West), Latin America, and the United States, Political Exile in the Global Twentieth Century places the diasporas of twentieth-century Christian Democracy within broader, global debates on political exile and migration.

In 2009, Ignacio Walker—scholar, politician, and one of Latin America’s leading public intellectuals—published La Democracia en América Latina. Now available in English, with a new prologue, and significantly revised and updated for an English-speaking audience, Democracy in Latin America: Between Hope and Despair contributes to the necessary and urgent task of exploring both the possibilities and difficulties of establishing a stable democracy in Latin America. Walker argues that, throughout the past century, Latin American history has been marked by the search for responses or alternatives to the crisis of oligarchic rule and the struggle to replace the oligarchic order with a democratic one. After reviewing some of the principal theories of democracy based on an analysis of the interactions of political, economic, and social factors, Walker maintains that it is primarily the actors, institutions, and public policies—not structural determinants—that create progress or regression in Latin American democracy.

No book in any language equals The Church, Dictatorships, and Democracy in Latin America for its comparative breadth. Historians, social scientists, and general readers will cull from it the conditions needed for the church to play a positive and creative role in furthering human rights and democracy. -John A. Coleman, SJ Loyola Marymount University Jeffrey Klaiber's book offers a wonderfully informative history of the Church's role in Latin American struggles to defend human rights and achieve democracy. Anyone who has followed with concern and interest these recent struggles-from military dictatorships in Brazil and Chile, through the violent conflicts in Central America, to the most recent struggles in Chiapas, Mexico-will find this remarkably comprehensive study of eleven different nations an invaluable text. -Arthur F. McGovern, SJ University of Detroit This volume provides readers with the first comprehensive view of the church during a defining period of Latin American history. This is an invaluable study by a longtime and astute observer. -Edward L. Cleary, OP Providence College A compelling account of the role of the church during the dictatorships and internal wars in eleven countries of Latin America . . . by an eminent historian. -Gerald H. Anderson Director of Overseas Ministries Study Center

The author surveys the literature on the reasons for Pentecostal growth and Catholic retrenchment in Latin America and assesses the socioeconomic and political implications of these religious changes for democratic governments, many of which follow upon a decade or more of military rule in their respective societies. He argues that although a coalition between the two groups could have a strong impact on public policy, the differences in their political agendas could complicate the debate in the years ahead. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

What drives religious people to act in politics? In Latin America, as in the Middle East, religious belief is a primary motivating factor for politically active citizens. Edward Lynch questions the frequent pitfall of Latin American scholarship--categorizing religious belief as a veil for another interest or as a purview just of churchmen, thereby ignoring its hold over lay people. Challenging this traditional view, Lynch concludes that religious motivations are important in their own right and raises important questions about the relationship between religion and politics in Latin America. Looking at the two most important Catholic lay movements, Liberation Theology and Christian Democracy, Lynch uses Nicaragua and Venezuela as case studies of how religious philosophy has fared when vested with political power. This timely study describes the motivations driving many important political actors. Divided into two parts, Ideologies In Theory and Ideologies In Practice, this volume features a discussion of the theoretical background of two Catholic philosophies. Using Nicaragua and Venezuela as case studies, Lynch finds that Liberation Theology and Christian Democracy are not as different as many scholars think; in fact, there are many parellels. He concludes that both philosophies face their strongest challenge from a revitalized orthodox Catholic social doctrine.