Examining the cases of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru, the contributors to this timely edited volume explore how societies undergoing democratization in the aftermath of civil war can become mired in violent crime, poor governance, and illiberal political cultures.
Examining the cases of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru, the contributors to this timely edited volume explore how societies undergoing democratization in the aftermath of civil war can become mired in violent crime, poor governance, and illiberal political cultures. Despite the diversity of contexts among the seven cases explored, a similar dynamic appears in all of them: a history of political exclusion motivated armed actors and fueled wars that, in turn, limited the ability of the government to deliver basic services and weakened state institutions; this weakness hobbled postwar democratization processes intended to ameliorate the political exclusion that was so often at the root of the original violence. Corruption and a lack of basic security undermined public faith in democratic institutions, allowing for the rise of leaders with authoritarian tendencies. State-building projects promoted by international actors, such as truth-and-reconciliation commissions to address human rights abuses, have produced mixed results. By detailing the structural factors that have affected the prospects for democracy in these war-torn states, this book should be of keen interest to observers of postwar societies and democratization both within Latin America and beyond.
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The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
