Current Search: info:fedora/islandora:personCModel (x) » College of Engineering and Computer Science (x) » Latin America (x) » Politics and government (x)
View All Items
(1 - 4 of 4)
- Title
- The consequences of conditioned democracy promotion by the United States in Latin America.
- Creator
- Walsh, Kelly., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Democracy promotion is an important tenet of United States foreign policy. However, U.S. democracy promotion efforts are conditioned by geopolitical concerns, economic goals, and security interests. This thesis analyzes the impact of U.S. foreign policy in Chile, Colombia, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Evidence from these cases suggests that United States foreign policy has contributed to the growth of unhealthy or pseudo-democracies in Latin America because frequently the policy reinforces the...
Show moreDemocracy promotion is an important tenet of United States foreign policy. However, U.S. democracy promotion efforts are conditioned by geopolitical concerns, economic goals, and security interests. This thesis analyzes the impact of U.S. foreign policy in Chile, Colombia, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Evidence from these cases suggests that United States foreign policy has contributed to the growth of unhealthy or pseudo-democracies in Latin America because frequently the policy reinforces the political and economic power of entrenched elites or the military. These groups, whose interests more closely align with U.S interests, are often uncommitted to supporting policy that promotes human rights and equitable distribution of wealth and power or that demands universal political liberties. Democracy is promoted rhetorically rather than in practice, and consequently is unresponsive and illegitimate. Future democracy promotion efforts by the United States, if they are to be successful, must overcome this illegitimacy by compensating for the conflicts that conditioned democracy produces.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210005
- Subject Headings
- Democracy, Democratization, Government policy, Politics and government, Foreign relations, Foreign relations
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The miseducation of Hugo Chavez: political learning and populism in Latin America.
- Creator
- Fertitta, David., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
This project examines the role of political learning in predicting the recent rise of left-of-center governments in Latin America, ranging from moderate center-left coalition governments to one-party populist regimes. Studies of populism consistently point to the role of natural resources and economic crises in predicting the rise of populist regimes. This study adds the concept of political learning by using measures of moderation in the current regime as a dependent variable and measures of...
Show moreThis project examines the role of political learning in predicting the recent rise of left-of-center governments in Latin America, ranging from moderate center-left coalition governments to one-party populist regimes. Studies of populism consistently point to the role of natural resources and economic crises in predicting the rise of populist regimes. This study adds the concept of political learning by using measures of moderation in the current regime as a dependent variable and measures of oppression in earlier regimes as independent variables. Utilizing case studies of Venezuela and Chile as ideal types and plotting ten further cases on indicators of repression, military spending, corporate tax rates, government spending, the percent of votes going to moderates, and economic freedom scores from Freedom House, I argue that the likelihood of the rise of populist regimes is greater in countries that have not experienced the sort of intense political repression that generates political learning.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3335021
- Subject Headings
- Power (Social sciences), Populism, Politics and government, Politics and government
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Pentecostalism, development and democracy in Latin America.
- Creator
- Louis, Pierre A., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
The recent explosive growth of Protestantism in Latin America has led a number of scholars to predict that the region may be on its way to reaching a significantly higher levels of socioeconomic development and democracy. These are important claims for a region that has struggled with both economic development and democratic consolidation. This thesis argues that Protestantism in Latin America does not follow the classical Weberian pattern of development. Because the majority of Protestant...
Show moreThe recent explosive growth of Protestantism in Latin America has led a number of scholars to predict that the region may be on its way to reaching a significantly higher levels of socioeconomic development and democracy. These are important claims for a region that has struggled with both economic development and democratic consolidation. This thesis argues that Protestantism in Latin America does not follow the classical Weberian pattern of development. Because the majority of Protestant growth in the region is Pentecostal, the causal assumptions of the--culture and development school do not hold. Furthermore, a context of neoliberalism, a significant colonial legacy, and wide income disparities continue to hinder the potential for development. Based on a review of secondary sources and specific data from the case of Guatemala, this thesis argues that while individual Protestants may experience some upward social mobility, the growth of Protestantism has done little to advance the socioeconomic and political development of the region.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77674
- Subject Headings
- Democratization, Neoliberalism, Christianity and politics, Politics and government, Cultural policy
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The role of church-state conflict in the growth of religious pluralism in Latin America.
- Creator
- McMillan, Michael., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Since the 1960s Latin America has experienced a religious transformation, with several countries developing significant Protestant populations. These religious changes have influenced the political processes of several Latin American nations, playing a prominent role in elections and the formation of political platforms. Several theories attempt to account for the recent growth in religious pluralism, particularly social anomie theory and religious market models. These theories ignore or...
Show moreSince the 1960s Latin America has experienced a religious transformation, with several countries developing significant Protestant populations. These religious changes have influenced the political processes of several Latin American nations, playing a prominent role in elections and the formation of political platforms. Several theories attempt to account for the recent growth in religious pluralism, particularly social anomie theory and religious market models. These theories ignore or downplay the role of conflict between the state and civil society, especially violent confrontations between the government and the Roman Catholic Church. This study focuses on four case studies with varying amounts of church-state conflict and differing religious pluralistic growth rates: Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, and Southern Mexico. This study finds that church-state conflict serves as a catalyst, and in some cases a useful predictor, of growth in religious pluralism.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77678
- Subject Headings
- Religious pluralism, Latin America, Politics and government, Latin America, Church history, Church and state, History
- Format
- Document (PDF)
