Issues in Democratic Consolidation: The New South American Democracies in Comparative Perspective

by Scott Mainwaring (Editor), Guillermo O'Donnell

Since 1974 there has been an unprecedented wave of democratization in the world. This trend has been particularly extensive in South America. But the problems confronting these new democracies are staggering, and the prospects for building consolidated democratic regimes are far from uniformly good. Focusing primarily on recent South American cases, Issues in Democratic Consolidation examines some of the difficulties of constructing consolidated democracies and provides a critical examination of the major issues involved. A prominent theme running through this collection is that the transitions from authoritative rule to civilian government may be arrested by political, economic, and social constraints. The articles contain analyses of the varied modalities and complex processes related to the transitions. The first transition begins with the initial stirrings of crisis under authoritarian rule that generate some form of political opening and greater respect for basic civil rights, and ends with the establishment of a government elected in an open, competitive contest. The volume's primary focus, however, is on the second transition, which begins with the inauguration of a democratic government and ends-if all goes well-with the establishment of a consolidated democratic regime.

366 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1992

About the author

Scott Mainwaring is the Eugene P. and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, where he previously served as director for 13 years and is a current Advisory Board member.

In the fall of 2019, Mainwaring returned to Notre Dame from Harvard University, where he served as the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor of Brazil Studies at the Kennedy School and was faculty co-chair of the Brazil Studies Program from 2016 to 2019.

His research interests include political parties and party systems, democratic and authoritarian regimes, democratization, and political institutions in Latin America.