Creative Destruction?

Economic Crises and Democracy in Latin America

Business & Finance, Business Reference, Government & Business, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, International, Foreign Legal Systems
Cover of the book Creative Destruction? by Francisco E. González, Johns Hopkins University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Francisco E. González ISBN: 9781421406039
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Publication: July 2, 2012
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Francisco E. González
ISBN: 9781421406039
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication: July 2, 2012
Imprint:
Language: English

Throughout the twentieth century, financial shocks toppled democratic and authoritarian regimes across Latin America. But things began to change in the 1980s. This volume explains why this was the case in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.

Taking a comparative historical approach, Francisco E. González looks at how the Great Depression, Latin America’s 1980s debt crisis, and the emerging markets' meltdowns of the late 1990s and early 2000s affected the governments of these three Southern Cone states. He finds that democratic or not, each nation’s governing regime gained stability in the 1980s from a combination of changes in the structure and functioning of national and international institutions, material interests, political ideologies, and economic paradigms and policies. Underlying these changes was a growing ease in the exchange of ideas.

As the world’s balance of power transitioned from trilateral to bipolar to unipolar, international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund increased crisis interventions that backstopped economic freefalls and strengthened incumbents. Urban-based populations with relatively high per capita income grew and exercised their preference for the stability and prosperity they found as a class under democratic rule. These and other factors combined to substantially increase the cost of military takeovers, leading to fewer coups and an atmosphere friendlier toward domestic and foreign capital investment. González argues that this confluence created a pro-democracy bias—which was present even in Augusto Pinochet’s Chile—that not only aided the states’ ability to manage economic and political crises but also lessened the political, social, and monetary barriers to maintaining or even establishing democratic governance.

With a concluding chapter on the impact of the Great Recession in other Latin American states, Eastern Europe, and East Asia, Creative Destruction? lends insight into the survival of democratic and authoritarian regimes during times of extreme financial instability. Scholars and students of Latin America, political economy, and democratization studies will find González's arguments engaging and the framework he built for this study especially useful in their own work.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Throughout the twentieth century, financial shocks toppled democratic and authoritarian regimes across Latin America. But things began to change in the 1980s. This volume explains why this was the case in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.

Taking a comparative historical approach, Francisco E. González looks at how the Great Depression, Latin America’s 1980s debt crisis, and the emerging markets' meltdowns of the late 1990s and early 2000s affected the governments of these three Southern Cone states. He finds that democratic or not, each nation’s governing regime gained stability in the 1980s from a combination of changes in the structure and functioning of national and international institutions, material interests, political ideologies, and economic paradigms and policies. Underlying these changes was a growing ease in the exchange of ideas.

As the world’s balance of power transitioned from trilateral to bipolar to unipolar, international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund increased crisis interventions that backstopped economic freefalls and strengthened incumbents. Urban-based populations with relatively high per capita income grew and exercised their preference for the stability and prosperity they found as a class under democratic rule. These and other factors combined to substantially increase the cost of military takeovers, leading to fewer coups and an atmosphere friendlier toward domestic and foreign capital investment. González argues that this confluence created a pro-democracy bias—which was present even in Augusto Pinochet’s Chile—that not only aided the states’ ability to manage economic and political crises but also lessened the political, social, and monetary barriers to maintaining or even establishing democratic governance.

With a concluding chapter on the impact of the Great Recession in other Latin American states, Eastern Europe, and East Asia, Creative Destruction? lends insight into the survival of democratic and authoritarian regimes during times of extreme financial instability. Scholars and students of Latin America, political economy, and democratization studies will find González's arguments engaging and the framework he built for this study especially useful in their own work.

More books from Johns Hopkins University Press

Cover of the book Calculus in Context by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Slavery's Ghost by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book The Telegraph in America, 1832–1920 by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Refrigeration Nation by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Imaginary Citizens by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book George Washington's Eye by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Creationism in Europe by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book The Boy Problem by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book American Crossings by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Persian Interventions by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Playboys and Mayfair Men by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Transatlantic Aliens by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Nat Turner and the Rising in Southampton County by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book Education and Empowered Citizenship in Mali by Francisco E. González
Cover of the book The Poetry of Weldon Kees by Francisco E. González
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy