South America. Importance economic Major trading partner Important raw materials – Silver, gold,...
-
Upload
agnes-greene -
Category
Documents
-
view
218 -
download
0
Transcript of South America. Importance economic Major trading partner Important raw materials – Silver, gold,...
South America
Importance
economic• Major trading partner• Important raw materials
– Silver, gold, petroleum, biological resources, coffee, bananas, guano, copper, gas, sugar, soy, iron ore, semi-precious gems
• US investment• Acceleration of growth• US Hispanic population
political• Revolutionary movements and
repressive response are linked to US Foreign policy
• How to promote US foreign interests in the region
• US Hispanic population• 26 countries (10 on South
American continent)• Communism, socialism,
fascism, democracy, liberalism, positivism, corporatism,
• Variety of religions within dominant Catholic norm.
Characteristics
geographic• Total land area (including
Central and Southern North America) is 2 ½ times the size of the USA
• Brasil alone is larger than the USA
• Andean mountains• Rainforest• Arid plains (Mexico)• Fertile grasslands (Arg)• Desert regions, coastal
wetlands, archipelagos
cultural• Spanish/Portuguese colonies –
language• Indigenous populations
– Aztec, Maya, Inca civilizations– Multiple tribal groups today
• Global immigrant population• 3 dominant races
– White europeans, black africans, native indians
• Urbanization
Country Population Area (km2) Density
Ecuador 13,363,593 283,109 47
Colombia 42,954,279 1,138,910 37
Venezuela 25,375,281 912,050 27
Brasil 186,112,794 8,511,965 21
Peru 27,925,628 1,285,220 21
Chile 16,136,137 756,950 21
Uruguay 3,415,920 176,220 19
Paraguay 6,158,000 406,750 15
Argentina 39,537,943 2,766,890 14
Bolivia 8,857,870 1,098,580 8
Guyana 765,283 214,970 3
Suriname 438,144 163,270 2
French Guiana 195,506 91,000 2
Falklands 2,967 12,173 0.24
Total Polulation 371,239,345
Dominguez• Elections– Conferring legitimacy, safety valve, free expression of
preferences, accommodate differences without derailing constitutional order
– 2006 elections• Turnout, volume of events, free and fair, losers went away
• Inequality– Social and economic disparities remain intense– Globalization reveals these and consequence is status
discontent– Government policies (Lula -Bolsa Familia; Chavez-
misiones)
Dominguez
• Institutional Deficit– Capacity to handle social pressures– Political parties, judiciary, basic services, police,
education, etc• Leadership Balance– Achieving consensus to address these deficits– Higher quality education, judicial systems are
imperative– Question of re-election and governance
• Country specific differences/constraints
Dominguez• Global Consensus– Core tenets of democratic governance– Push back on efforts to promote liberal democracy?
• Ex: OAS response to coup of Manuel Zelaya June 09 in favor of Micheletti i(Honduras)
• US status is weak• Dimensions of democratic governance– Decentralization of Power
• mayoral election – performance based• Enhanced fragmentation of power
– Media• Press freedom – uneven progress
– Civil society• Fragmentation or pluralism?
Hagopian
• 1978 democratic expansion• 1990 most in region democratically elected
government• Economic performance has varied but democracy
has endured and deepened– Voter turnout– Accountability– Freedom– Competition – equality
Hagopian’s Three Goals
• Chart the advances and setbacks– 1978 – Colombia, CR and Venezuela democratic– 2004 – only Cuba and Haiti remained
authoritarian (Haiti dem elects in 2006)
• Explain the post-1978 change– Why is authoritarianism the exception? (Cuba)– Why have some countries advanced
democratically and others experienced setbacks?
Hagopian’s Three Goals
• Contribute to the broader comparative literature on democratization and consolidation– How does democracy survive?– How does democracy thrive?– How does democracy fail?
Theoretical Arguments about Democracy
• Competitively elected regimes survive despite poor economic performance– Democracy lasts in hard times and inauspicious
places– El Salvador– Guatemala– Bolivia • One of the poorest• Ethnically divided• History of instability
Theoretical Arguments about Democracy
• “Inhospitable” structural variables combined with poor regime performance negatively impacts regime solidity and quality– Regime solidity – extent to which competitively
elected regimes are reasonably full democracies – tendency to breakdown or erosion
– Not static: Venezuela 1989 -
Impact on other Theoretical Approaches
• Modernization– ????
• Dependency– ????– Globalization– International factors