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This book investigates the successes and failures in consolidating those democratic regimes that emerged in Europe and Latin America in the last quarter of the 20th century. The theoretical approach developed combines the most prominent political-institutional and socio-structural approaches to explaining the Consolidation of Democracy (CoD). Reinterpreting conventional claims, Schneider's comparative analyses of 32 countries indicates that the driving force behind CoD is the fit between the institutional type of democracy and the societal context in terms of power dispers.

Employing comparative and quantitative historical methods Frankema explores long run trends of asset and income distribution in Latin America, arguing that there is little reason to regard the yawning gap between rich and poor as the persistent result of a colonial heritage.

"This book concerns recent and current political developments in Latin America related to the emergence of left-leaning regimes riding the waves of anti-neoliberalism and a primary commodities boom. Based on five years of field research and a critical engagement with social movements in the region, the book documents the short-term advances and strategic weaknesses of these left-leaning regimes, highlighting their failure to take advantage of favourable economic and political conditions. The authors profile four cases of recent and current political developments, and the prospects for socialism, in Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela."--Book cover

Bringing together comparative case studies from Central Europe and South America, this book focuses on 'new' regions - regions created as political projects of modernization and 're-scaling'. Through this approach it de-codes 'New Regionalism' in terms of its contributions to institutional change, while acknowledging its contested nature and contradictions.

"The wave of neoliberal economic reforms in the developing world since the 1980s has been regarded as the result of both severe economic crises and policy pressures from global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Using comparative evidence from the initiation and implementation of IMF programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe, From Economic Crisis to Reform shows that economic crises do not necessarily persuade governments to adopt IMF-style economic policies. Instead, ideology, interests, and institutions, at both the international and domestic levels, mediate responses to such crises." "Grigore Pop-Eleches explains that the IMF's response to economic crises reflects the changing priorities of large IMF member countries. He argues that the IMF gives greater attention and favorable treatment to economic crises when they occur in economically or politically important countries. The book also shows how during the neoliberal consensus of the 1990s, economic crises triggered IMF-style reforms from governments across the ideological spectrum and how these reforms were broadly compatible with democratic politics. By contrast, during the Latin American debt crisis, the contentious politics of IMF programs reflected the ideological rivalries of the Cold War. Economic crises triggered ideologically divergent domestic policy responses and democracy was often at odds with economic adjustment. The author demonstrates that an economic crisis triggers neoliberal economic reforms only when the government and the IMF agree about the roots and severity of the crisis."--Jacket

Building bond markets in Latin America / Eduardo Borensztein ... [et al.] -- How can emerging market economies benefit from a corporate bond market? / Patrick Bolton and Xavier Freixas -- Development of the Mexican bond market / Sara G. Castellanos and Lorenza Martinez -- Corporate bond markets in Argentina / Roque B. Fernández, Sergio Pernice, and Jorge M. Streb -- Development of Colombian bond markets / Camila Aguilar ... [et al.] -- Development of the Chilean corporate bond market / Matías Braun and Ignacio Briones -- Development of the Brazilian bond market / Ricardo P.C. Leal and Andre L. Carvalhal-da-Silva -- The fixed-income market in Uruguay / Julio de Brun ... [et al.] -- Prospects for Latin American bond markets : a cross-country view / Barry Eichengreen, Ugo Panizza, and Eduardo Borensztein

Introduction: South America turns a critical page -- Asserting energy sovereignty -- Integration for survival -- Overcoming a brutal past -- Lights! Camera! Chávez! -- Coca and nationalism -- Red is the color of revolution -- The Poncho revolution -- Penguinos, piqueteros, and the PT -- South American media wars -- Conclusion: Moving forward : South American community of nations

Climate, catastrophe, and culture in the ancient Americas / Daniel H. Sandweiss and Jeffrey Quilter -- Paleoclimate from ice cores : a framework for archaeological interpretations / Paul Andrew Mayweski -- El Niño and interannual variability of climate in the Western Hemisphere / Kirk Allen Maasch -- Climate change, El Niño, and the rise of complex society on the Peruvian coast during the middle Holocene / James B. Richardson III and Daniel H. Sandweiss -- Catastrophe and the emergence of political complexity : a social anthropological model / Paul Roscoe -- Deciphering the politics of prehistoric El Niño events on the north coast of Peru / Brian R. Billman and Gary Huckleberry -- Deadly deluges in the southern desert : modern and ancient El Niños in the Osmore region of Peru / Michael E. Moseley and David K. Keefer -- Marching to disaster: the catastrophic convergence of Inca imperial policy, sand flies, and El Niño in the 1524 Andean epidemic / James B. Kiracofe and John S. Marr -- Armageddon to the Garden of Eden : explosive volcanic eruptions and societal resilience in ancient Middle America / Payson Sheets -- The collapse of Maya civilization : assessing the interaction of culture, climate, and environment / Jason Yaeger and David A. Hodell -- And the waters took them : catastrophic flooding and civilization on the Mexican Gulf Coast / S. Jeffrey K. Wilkerson

"This work focuses specifically on the two main unions of the time, the White Rats Actors' Union of America and the Actors' Equity Association. The author chronicles the formation of the unions along with their achievements in the following decades and outlines the roles of union leaders Harry Mountford and Francis Wilson"--Provided by publisher

Introduction : can Latin America compete? / John Price and Jerry Haar -- The macroeconomic environment of competitiveness / Claudio Loser -- Building human capital : is Latin American education competitive? / Jeff Puryear and Tamara Ortega Goodspeed -- Competitive capital markets : Brazil's capital markets finally maturing / John Welch -- Consumer & small business credit, building blocks of the middle class / Jan Smith, Tricia Juhn, and Christopher Humphrey -- Closing the technology gap / Peter Knight and Rosane Marques -- Fostering innovation : technological innovation in urban clusters / Isabel Bortagaray and Scott Tiffin -- Return on infrastructure investment : focus on water / Lee Tablewski -- Logistics & transport services / Marcio Stewart -- Legal reform : some emerging paradoxes of Latin America's legal and judicial reform movement / Linn Hammergren -- Property, the rule of law, and development in the Americas / Peter Schaefer and Clayton Schaefer -- Tax reform : tax policy, reform, and competitiveness in Latin America / Mauricio Carrizosa -- Labor reform : under competitive economies and unprotected workforce / Christopher Sabatini -- Regulatory reform : increasing competitiveness through regulatory and investment climate improvements in Latin America : the case of Mexico / Luis Guasch and Benjamin Herzberg -- Public safety : the cost of living dangerously / John Price -- Lessons learned and looking forward / Jerry Haar and John Price

The media's role as a mechanism of control throughout Latin America has become increasingly sophisticated. This book provides a comprehensive and critical overview of some of the important media systems in Latin America. It approaches the subject with a country-by-country analysis, exploring the relevant aspects of the media in each society.

Nowhere has the relationship between state and church been more volatile in recent decades than in Latin America. Anthony Gill's controversial book not only explains why Catholic leaders in some countries came to oppose dictatorial rule but, equally important, why many did not. Using historical and statistical evidence from twelve countries, Gill for the first time uncovers the causal connection between religious competition and the rise of progressive Catholicism. In places where evangelical Protestantism and "spiritist" sects made inroads among poor Catholics, Church leaders championed the r

Less than meets the eye: state re-regulation via regional institutionalization -- More than meets the eye: market reconfiguration at the continental level -- The continent in transition -- further reconfiguration under globalizing pressures -- Not what meets the eye: global governance North America -- Just what it used to be: persistent state dominance

Eduardo Wiesner's book makes an important contribution to the understanding of development by blending together the interdependent issues of (i) macroeconomic performance and volatility, (ii) equity and distributive justice, (iii) fiscal deficits and the redistributive effectiveness of social public expenditures, and (iv) the demand for the 'right' institutions and for policy reform in Latin America. It does this by examining recent macroeconomic crises from a political economy perspective, and finds that information is the critical algorithm that links together the demand for macroeconomic stability, macroeconomic performance and, ultimately, distributive justice

Fiscal performance in Latin America looks much improved this decade compared to the 1980s or 1990s. Is this a ""structural"" improvement or likely to be transitory? This paper answers this question by estimating the relationship between non-commodity revenue and the economic cycle, and evaluating commodity revenues using alternative medium term commodity price projections. The main result is that structural revenues have indeed improved as a share of GDP, and structural primary balances are currently in surplus in many Latin American countries. However, the magnitude of these improvements is u