Capitalist Development and Democracy in South America
Abstract
Capitalist Development and Democracy in South America SAGE Publications, Inc.1989DOI: 10.1177/003232928901700302 Evelyne Huber Stephens IN contrast to earlier structural models of political change in Latin America, 1 current debate on redemocratization focuses on the political process. Political choices by major actors, particularly the adoption of explicit or implicit political pacts, are accorded primary importance. In fact, the most influential work on the topic has argued that the high indeterminacy of the transition process obviates the possibility of effective analysis in terms of such conventional social-science categories as class, sectors, institutions, and macroeconomic and world systemic structures 2 An institutional and conjectural focus may well be appropriate for the immediate transition period, but it is not likely to provide answers to the other important question: how can democratic regimes be consolidated in the medium and long run? Explaining long-run tendencies requires attention to underlying structural conditions and past trajectories of historical change. A return to a consideration of structural variables does not mean denying the importance of political and institutional ones. It is time to bring structural and political variables I would like to thank the Kellogg Institute of the University of Notre Dame, where much of the work