Suchergebnisse

During the 1960s and early 1970s, the collapse of civilian democracies in several of Latin America's most socioeconomically developed nations and the rise of highly institutionalized, repressive regimes raised serious questions about the nature of political development and political decay in that region. Neither advanced social indicators (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay), nor an extensive, modern-industrial economic sector (Argentina, Brazil), nor a sustained period of representative government (Chile, Uruguay) seemed to be guarantees of continued civilian-democratic rule. Indeed, scholars such as Guillermo O'Donnell have suggested that the nature of economic growth and industrialization in Latin America—most notably in the "Southern Cone"— had resulted in increased class conflict, intense political strains, and the rise of bureaucratic-authoritarian (B-A) regimes.

Untersuchung über Veränderungen in der Ernährungssituation der kubanischen Bevölkerung seit der Revolution 1959. Darstellung der Verbesserung der Lebensmittelversorgung der unteren Einkommensschichten durch staatliche Eingriffe in die Mechanismen des Verteilungssystems bei gleichzeitiger Einschränkung des Nahrungsmittelangebots für den städtischen Mittelstand und qualifizierte Fachkräfte

The Café Zoracabana sits off the Plaza Libertad in the center of downtown Montevideo. With nineteenth-century decor and white-smocked waiters, it is one of the city's last remaining traditional cafés. Here old friends meet and talk for hours while nursing a cup of tea or cafe con leche. I have come here this evening to meet a former correspondent named Paco, to whom I have been referred by an exiled Uruguayan congressman.
From time to time my companion interrupts our conversation to greet friends who pass by our table. Late in the evening he rises to hug yet another person in a traditional Latin American abrazo. His friend squeezes his hand, speaks for a moment, and moves on. After a discreet pause Paco unfolds a small piece of paper that had been placed surreptitiously in his hand.

In years past, Mexico's political system was often cited as a model for political development in the "third world" (Scott, 1974, 1965). While most Latin American governments allowed associational interest groups little opportunity to articulate their needs and demands, Mexico's ruling party (the PRI) provided institutionalized representation for three major segments of the nation's population: the agrarian sector (peasants and agricultural workers); the middle class (the "popular sector"); and organized labor unions. Anderson and Cockcroft (1966: 16) indicated that "the Mexican national leadership seem … to be committed to tolerating a substantial amount of political pluralism. It is taken for granted … that occupational groups attempt to promote their interests and demands through organizations."More recently, however, a "revisionist" group of political scientists has disputed the contention that Mexico is moving toward democratic pluralism; instead they characterize its political system as essentially authoritarian (Purcell, 1973; Johnson, 1971; Stevens, 1970; Davis and Coleman, 1974). In this article I shall examine the degree of latitude which the Mexican political system allows independent labor movements I in articulating the demands of their members and in pressing I those demands on the ruling party.

On 11 September 1973, heavily armed troops attacked the Chilean Presidential Palace in Santiago and toppled the government of Dr. Salvador Allende. The military coup brought an end to Latin America's first democratically-elected Marxist government. Since the September military takeover, the Chilean armed forces have moved with unparalleled harshness to suppress the base of the Allende regime's popular support. The Allende government's efforts toward raising the consumption level of Chile's lower classes had earned his Popular Unity (Unidad Popular—UP) coalition a high degree of political support among the nation's working class and urban migrant population. Because his Socialist-Communist coalition had been actively competing since the 1960s with both the reformist Christian Democratic party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano—PDC) and the ultraradical Leftist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria—MIR) for the support of the urban poor, Santiago's migrant shantytowns had an unusually high level of political mobilization. The squatter settlements outside of the capital provided some of the strongest support for Chile's various Marxist parties. Not surprisingly, since the military takeover many of Santiago's squatter communities have been subjected to mass arrests and even executions by the rightist government (Slaughterhouse, 1973; Terror, 1974).

"Challenges of the Developing World is a lively, up-to-date, and highly readable introduction to the key dynamics and issues of political, economic and social development in the "developing countries" of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America."