REALIST REVOLUTIONS: FREE TRADE, OPEN ECONOMIES, PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY AND THEIR IMPACT ON LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS
In: Review of policy research, Band 15, Heft 2-3, S. 35-51
ISSN: 1541-1338
ABSTRACTIn the industrialized democracies, free elections, the lowering of trade barriers and the opening of national economies to foreign competition are natural progressions within open systems. But in the Latin American context, where rule by oligarchy and inbred political‐social‐economic systems have been the norm, participatory democracy, one‐man‐one‐vote elections, the opening of economies, and free trade are revolutionary processes subversive of the established order. To join the ranks of the industrialized democracies fundamental changes to Latin American social structures are necessary.