Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

Institutionalized Regimes in Chile and Mexico, 1970–2000

Francisco E. Gonz

Publication Year: 2008

Latin America’s region-wide 1982 economic collapse had a drastic effect on governments throughout Central and South America, leading many to the verge of failure and pushing several of the most stridently authoritarian—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Uruguay—over the brink. Surprisingly though, Chile’s repressive military dictatorship and Mexico’s hegemonic civilian regime endured amid the economic chaos that rocked the region. Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule explains why the regimes in these two nations survived the financial upheaval of the early 1980s and how each progressed toward a more open, democratic, market-driven system in later years. Using an in-depth comparative analysis of Chile and Mexico, Francisco González explains that the two governments—though quite different ideologically—possessed a common type of institutionalized authoritarian rule that not only served to maintain the political status quo but, paradoxically, also aided proponents of political and economic liberalization. Featuring a discussion of parallel phenomena in Brazil, Hungary, Taiwan, and South Korea, Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule presents a cogent challenge to the received wisdom that sociopolitical and economic change within authoritarian nations must be approached separately. This book will interest scholars of Latin American politics, democratization studies, market reform, and comparative politics and international relations.

Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Contents
Search Inside This Book
Book Details

pdf icon Download PDF (50.2 KB)
pp. vii-

Acknowledgments

pdf icon Download PDF (48.5 KB)
pp. ix-x

This volume went through several stages before its current form. It benefited from the generous time and insights of Laurence Whitehead, Desmond King, and Sudhir Hazareesingh. Additionally, Alan Angell read the sections on Chile and enriched the case study with his unmatched knowledge of that country. Thanks are due to Nuffield...

Introduction: Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

pdf icon Download PDF (78.3 KB)
pp. 1-16

Faith in democracy received a boost during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Between the early 1970s and the dawn of the twenty-first century, more than eighty countries throughout the world underwent transitions from authoritarian or totalitarian to democratic political regimes...

PART I. THE 1970S: DIVERGENT POLITICO-ECONOMIC TRAJECTORIES

1. Chile, 1970–1982

pdf icon Download PDF (135.6 KB)
pp. 19-51

More than thirty years ago, economist Aníbal Pinto highlighted Chile’s longstanding politico-economic conundrum. Writing in 1970, he characterized Chile as ‘‘a country that has shown for a long time a relative advance in its social organization and its institutions compared to the changes in the level of its economic structure...

2. Mexico, 1970–1982

pdf icon Download PDF (157.6 KB)
pp. 52-83

Mexico’s political and economic conundrum in the late 1960s and in the 1970s was the very opposite of the dilemma that Aníbal Pinto identified in Chile during the same period. During those years, Chile had a modern, plural democratic system coupled with an overloaded, inflation-prone economy...

PART II. THE 1980S: SURVIVING THE CRISIS YEARS AND CONVERGENCE OF TRAJECTORIES

3. Chile’s Decisive Decade, 1982–1990

pdf icon Download PDF (117.1 KB)
pp. 87-113

The 1982 debacle plunged Chile into its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Politico-economic antagonisms were reignited, and the military regime’s finest hour had given way to a period of renewed crisis. Financial and economic collapse dealt the military government’s legitimacy and prestige a great blow...

4. Mexico’s Lost Decade, 1982–1988

pdf icon Download PDF (145.0 KB)
pp. 114-143

The crisis of 1982 ended a four-decade run in which the PRI presided overpolitical and economic success in Mexico. The arrangements responsible for thissuccess were state-led economic development under ISI and the hegemonic partyregime. The 1982 crisis did away with the former and seriously damaged the latter. Like Chile, Mexico plunged into its worst economic crisis since the 1930s....

PART III. THE 1990S: VERSIONS OF ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY AND FREE MARKET ECONOMIES

5. The New Chile, 1990–2000

pdf icon Download PDF (136.0 KB)
pp. 147-177

Both the military regime and the democratic opposition won and lost the 1988 plebiscite at the same time. On the one hand, Pinochet and the military government would have to go, but at the same time the politico-economic model they had crafted would become the framework of political and social engagement inthe post-authoritarian era. On the other hand, the opposition coalition defeated...

6. Mexico in North America, 1988–2000

pdf icon Download PDF (149.8 KB)
pp. 178-213

The process of Mexico’s dual transition between 1988 and 2000 did not show the stability of the Chilean process. Mexico was subjected to end-of-sexenio politico-economic crises in 1987–88 and 1994–95 that further eroded the hegemony of the PRI regime. The waxing and waning of politico-economic antagonisms in a six-year cycle between 1976 and 1994 over time discredited and de-legitimized...

Conclusion: Dual Transitions in Chile, Mexico, and Beyond

pdf icon Download PDF (86.5 KB)
pp. 214-227

Given the cases one has compared in detail, it is tempting indeed to draw general implications for other countries. If done at all, this has to be presented as mere tentative implications, drawn to stimulate further research into the study of contemporary dual transitions cross-regionally rather than to produce a general theory. A well-grounded conclusion should only apply to the cases studied in...

E-ISBN-13: 9780801896750
E-ISBN-10: 0801896754
Print-ISBN-13: 9780801888007
Print-ISBN-10: 080188800X

Page Count: 304
Illustrations: 4 line drawings
Publication Year: 2008

Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

PART I. THE 1970S: DIVERGENT POLITICO-ECONOMIC TRAJECTORIES

1. Chile, 1970–1982

2. Mexico, 1970–1982

PART II. THE 1980S: SURVIVING THE CRISIS YEARS AND CONVERGENCE OF TRAJECTORIES

3. Chile’s Decisive Decade, 1982–1990

4. Mexico’s Lost Decade, 1982–1988

PART III. THE 1990S: VERSIONS OF ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY AND FREE MARKET ECONOMIES

5. The New Chile, 1990–2000

6. Mexico in North America, 1988–2000

Conclusion: Dual Transitions in Chile, Mexico, and Beyond

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Research Areas

Subject Headings

Welcome to Project MUSE

Connect with Project MUSE

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Dual Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

PART I. THE 1970S: DIVERGENT POLITICO-ECONOMIC TRAJECTORIES

1. Chile, 1970–1982

2. Mexico, 1970–1982

PART II. THE 1980S: SURVIVING THE CRISIS YEARS AND CONVERGENCE OF TRAJECTORIES

3. Chile’s Decisive Decade, 1982–1990

4. Mexico’s Lost Decade, 1982–1988

PART III. THE 1990S: VERSIONS OF ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY AND FREE MARKET ECONOMIES

5. The New Chile, 1990–2000

6. Mexico in North America, 1988–2000

Conclusion: Dual Transitions in Chile, Mexico, and Beyond

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Research Areas

Recommend

Subject Headings

Related Content

Welcome to Project MUSE

Connect with Project MUSE

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3