South America has experienced dramatic political changes during the last decade. Almost all the military regimes established during the 1960s and 1970s have made room for democratically elected governments. The end of the last authoritarian cycle and the initiation of a democratization process have produced a vigorous debate among experts in South American politics about the present chances for the consolidation of democracy in the Southern Cone. Can we consider the current process of democratization as marking a historical end of authoritarian rule in the region? Or are we simply witnessing a mere democratic intermezzo, after which authoritarianism will recover its longstanding supremacy within South American political development? This book constitutes a general introduction to the role of the State in the current process of democratization in the Southern Cone region. It offers a comprehensive and multidisciplinary overview of the various problems with which the recent democratic governments have been confronted. A central focus of attention is the role played by the state and its institutions in the elimination of the authoritarian legacy and in the construction of a democratic polity.

A member of the US Foreign Service from 1949 to 1975, Weintraub (political economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies) argues that the organization Mercosur is succeeding, despite recent setbacks, in its goal of encouraging market economies and representative democracy in southern South America. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

This book provides an innovative and in-depth account of the contemporary political economy of capitalist development in the Southern Cone countries of Latin America - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Focusing on development in Latin America and recent breakthroughs and setbacks to democracy in the region, noted policy expert Howard J. Wiarda here collects new and previously published pieces examining the complex issues of U.S.-Latin American relations.