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Hispanic American Historical Review 80.1 (2000) 219-220



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Book Review

Democratic Culture and Governance:
Latin America on the Threshold of the Third Millennium

Social Democracy in Latin America:
Prospects for Change

International and Comparative

Democratic Culture and Governance: Latin America on the Threshold of the Third Millennium. Edited by Luis Albala-Bertrand. Gaithersburg, Md.: UNESCO/Hispamérica, 1992. 159 pp. Paper, $12.00.

Social Democracy in Latin America: Prospects for Change. Edited by Menno Vellinga. Boulder: Westview Press, 1993. 327 pp. Cloth, $39.95.

Democratic Culture and Governance is a collection of essays by prominent Latin American social scientists who were brought together by UNESCO to discuss issues of democracy at a conference held in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1990. The organization of this conference in Latin America was a recognition of the significance of the region for the debate about the theory and practice of democratization and democratic governance. The contributors include Manuel A. Garretón, Francois Bourricaud, Torcuato Di Tella, Norbert Lechner, Michel Maffesoli, Helio Jaguaribe, Mario Dos Santos, Osvaldo Sunkel, Ariel Davrieux, Enrique Leff, Dante Caputo, Jorge Sabato, Raúl Bernal-Meza, and Luis Albala-Bertrand. The articles by these prominent Latin Americanists address three main topics: issues of transition processes, economic conditions and the dilemmas of democratic governance, and democratization in the context of international restructuring. The collection provides a sense of some of the most troubling issues affecting democracy in Latin America, especially how prominent social scientists view these problems. The articles, however, lack depth. They are short pieces that look like conference commentaries rather than carefully-thought-out scholarly articles. In this sense, the book is useful as a documentation of the relevant issues discussed at the Montevideo conference, but it cannot be viewed as a significant contribution to the academic literature on democratization processes in Latin America. [End Page 219]

Social Democracy in Latin America should be welcomed by students of comparative politics and social democracy. Outstanding social scientists from Latin America and Europe provide informative and insightful analyses of the relationship between European and Latin American social democracy. The essays can be divided into two categories. One set of articles focuses on the analysis of the social democratic experience in Europe and its relevance for Latin America; the second set examines the experiences, possibilities, and limitations of social democracy in Latin America. Contributors to the book are Tilman Evers, Kenneth Hermele, Paul Cammack, Manuel Alcántara Sáez, Pablo González Casanova, Marcelo Cavarozzi, Alex Fernández Jilberto, Luis Gómez Calcaño, Julio Cotler, Augustin Cueva, Jaime Tamayo, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Alain Touraine.

The articles by Evers, Hermele, Cammack, and Alcántara Sáez address two main topics: the social democratic experience in Germany, Sweden, England, and Spain and the nature of the relationship between the European social democratic governments and parties and their Latin American counterparts. A major theme examined in these chapters is whether economic or political motivations accounted for the increasing interest of European social democrats in Latin America. The chapters concentrating on Latin America address more general themes, as in the chapter on the Left in South America by Cavarozzi, or concentrate on country or regional studies, including those of Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Central America, and Mexico.

The last two chapters address questions about the challenges of social democracy in Latin America. Cardoso examines the tension between the role of the market and that of the state in the allocation of resources and the redistribution of income. In Latin America, under the present conditions of external debt and inflation, the trend has been to privatize. But while privatization in great proportion is, according to Cardoso, unacceptable, social democrats must carefully evaluate how Latin American economies can open up. The final essay, by Touraine, discusses social democracy as a political project, the various meanings of social democracy, and possible ways out of the present situation at a time when the room for positive solutions is narrow. Overall, the essays are rich...

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