LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS

Unit 2: The Slow and Uneven Democratization of Latin America

Some resources for the rest of the term:

• The course syllabus and The High Point University Honor Code. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns your ability to meet the basic requirements of either of these documents.

• A handout on how your class participation grade will be assigned 

• A handout on how your tests will be graded (grading criteria for the short essay items).

• Citation instructions for papers in Setzler courses (on-line handout). Just familiarize yourself with this so that you are aware of what will be expected of you in papers. For example, as you are taking notes on reading or summarizing readings for future use in papers, you should note page numbers for ideas since you will be asked to include page-specific citations in papers (but not on tests, of course).

• A handout that explains when and how you may use AI assistance in this course. You should read this before submitting any writing in this class.

• Paper grading criteria for Setzler upper-division classes and the rubric grade sheet that is used for all of your papers. If you receive feedback on an essay that you should work on your writing's organization, make sure to read this handout before you write your next paper. The last thing I want to do is surprise you in a negative way with your paper grades. These guides tell you what you should be aiming for in different elements of your writing, and they provide strategies to improve your performance. If you seek assistance from a writing tutor or the university's writing center, take a copy of the rubric with you.  

Topic 1 (February 19, March 3)—Why has democracy continued to struggle to take root in Latin America? Populism and the political incorporation of historically marginalized groups

• Remember that the paper for Unit 1 will be due soon after the break. The topic and instructions are in the PPT file

Thursday, before break:

• Work on your papers. In class, we will watch most or all of Our Brand is Crisis (Koch Lorber Films, 2006). We will watch this documentary (not the terrible, feature-length film) in class. Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V3mE5beWuQ

For the Tuesday after break:

• Partially read Vanden and Provost, Chp. 4, "The Other Americans." Review the sections relevant to African-descendant Latin Americans, starting with "The Role of Sugar and Slavery" through the section "Contemporary Afro-Descendant Movements"). pay close attention to the section, "Concept of Race." You are welcome to read the sections on indigenous history and group politics, too, but the Van Cott article covers similar concepts in much less detail, and is better suited for the purposes of this class. . 
  

• Donna Lee Van Cott, "Latin America's Indigenous Peoples" (Journal of Democracy, 2007, 15pp)
  

• Raul Madrid, "The Rise of Enthopopulism in Latin America (World Politics, 2008, 32pp). Read this article quickly, but play close attention to the big ideas, including the difference between ethnic, populist, and "ethnopolitical" parties. What kind of Latin Americans support the last of these types of parties, and why have they been more successful than the other two types of parties in Latin American countries with a large share of indigenous voters. Are these types of parties a problem?
  

Topic 2 (March 5, 10, 12)—How democratic is Latin America? And how do we measure this?

• We'll finish up on indigenous politics in Latin America and transition into democracy in the region. I've posted readings for today, so that you don't have an unreasonable reading load for Thursday.
  

• Quickly read chapter 8 in your textbook. Do not get overly caught up in the details; we have already discussed in detail Latin America's anti-democratic founding, the problem's with the region's first attempt to construct US-style democratic institutions, and elite (and sometimes mass) support for military intervention into politics. As you read this chapter, focus on the information you would need to answer a test question that asked you: How has Latin America's political culture--specifically, mass and elite values, beliefs, and practices regarding democracy--impeded the consolidation of stable democracy in the region?
  

• Kurt Weyland, "Why Latin America Is Becoming Less Democratic" (Atlantic 2013, 13pp). As you read this article, pay close attention to what populism is, what it looks like in practice, and why it is a real threat to democracy once deeply entrenched by either populist leaders or a party they have captured. Pay close attention to why Weyland sees leftist populists as ultimately more of a problem than right-wing populists (i.e., how/why do the former typically come to power, who is their base, and what economic policies do they pursue that strengthen/undermine their hold on society over time). His analysis may explain why left-leaning bouts of authoritarian populism have tended to last longer than right-leaning variants as the region as a whole democratized

You have a BlackBoard quiz on that combines items for this article and the next one. The first 10 items are for the Weyland article and the second are for the Mainwaring one. The expectation is that you will take these quizzes while you are reading, and not just skim the articles quickly for the answers. My assumption in writing and grading tests is that students who are quickly sailing through quizzes, getting all items correct will have no problems in summarizing key ideas and providing examples from these same articles on exams. 

• Scott Mainwaring, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, "Why Latin America's Democracies Are Stuck" (Journal of Democracy 2023, 15pp)

Topic 3 (March 17, 19)—How do Latin America's democracies vary?

• Read chapter 9 in your textbook. You can skip the section on "Political Actors" except for the subsection on "political parties," which you should read. Pay particular attention to chart sections on Brazil and Mexico, because we will be examining their political systems and challenges with democracy closely.

• Here are some samples of the variation that we see in Latin American political systems (From Georgetown's "Political Database of the Americas" (these examples have more detail that what you see in the summaries in your textbook chapter):

• https://pdba.georgetown.edu/ElecSys/Chile/chile.html 

• https://pdba.georgetown.edu/ElecSys/Argentina/argentina.html

• https://pdba.georgetown.edu/ElecSys/Brazil/brazil.html

• https://pdba.georgetown.edu/ElecSys/Mexico/mexico.html

Topic 4 (March 26): An overview of Mexico's history of authoritarianism and one-party rule

• Here's a 20 minute video summary of Mexican political history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIaL3BD9r6c. It stops at 2020, two years into AMLO's presidency. This is worth your time because it will reinforce the political history sections of the textbook chapter; watch this video first, and reading the chapter will go faster. It is also going to be your main overview of Mexican political history up to the Mexico's soft-authoritarian period under the PRI, as my coverage in class will focus on that period and later.
  

• Read carefully this selectively edited version of an alternative textbook chapter. If you have watched the video noted above, you should be able to skim the section on Mexican history, keeping mind that it's hard to understand the way the country's political institutions work or its contemporary political science without having some understanding of the country's political history (the same is true of the US political system). Make sure to read carefully about various ways that the PRI was able to stay in power for 70 years and the PRI's internal reforms that led to a peaceful transition to democracy in Mexico without the kind of broad popular movement you'll see with Brazil and Chile.
  

• After having completed the assignments for this week and last, make sure that you have a grasp of the basic structure of Mexico's political system, which is summarized in the assigned textbook chapter as well as in one of the assignments from Georgetown's "Political Database of the Americas" (see link above). Vanden and Provost, Chp. 9. also provides a quick overview of the political and electoral structures of all the countries we will be covering closely for the rest of the course.
  

• This reading is optional. Vanden and Provost, Chp. 12. "Mexico." This chapter is way overly detailed for our purposes but could help you to better understand some of the historical events introduced in the other chapter if you are not already familiar with the major events in Mexican political history from the 1980s forward. We are going to cover recent Mexican politics next week with separate readings. If you choose to read the chapter, skim the first part quickly, absorbing enough of the historical and contextual details so that you can can understand the material on Lazaro Cardenas (p. 328) and the section "Mexico's Political Economy," which you should read closely. When you reach the section, "Interest Groups, NGOs, and Dissidents," again start to read quickly for context, but carefully review the section on "Drug Cartels." 

Topic 5 (March 31): —Will Mexico’s young democracy be able to endure in the face of challenges from narcotraffickers, corruption, and angry populists?

Note: This looks like a lot of reading because you are seeing so many perspectives. In all, you are being asked to read about as much as you would cover if you read a textbook chapter. The first article emphasizes how drug cartels are challenging Mexican democracy, the second looks at populism under AMLO (which turned out to be a lot less problematic than what experts thought might be the case), and the final block looks at the interaction between populism and criminality under Mexico's very popular, current president.

• Andreas Schedler, "The Criminal Subversion of Mexican Democracy" (Journal of Democracy, 2014, 14pp). Read this as a primer on the relationship between organized crime and politics--particularly why politicians are now frequently murdered by organized criminals. The article also provides important context on the rise of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). If this is a topic in which you have a lot of interest, you can see an updated version of the article's main argument here; I assigned the 2014 article because it is shorter and easier to digest.
  

• Mariano Sánchez-Talanquer and Kenneth F. Greene, "Is Mexico Falling into the Authoritarian Trap?" (Journal of Democracy 2021, 14pp) This article explains why Mexico's democracy is likely to withstand the populist inclinations of AMLO that might be more threatening in other Latin American settings. The biggest weakness of the article is that it doesn't place AMLO's consolidation of power or popularity into appropriate context, largely ignoring the political role played by the cartels as demonstrated in the previous article. This article does not compare AMLO to President Trump, but there are some similarities between these two leaders emphasis on loyalty in previously non-politicized parts government; attacks on political opponents, the media, and other institutions; however, again, it is important to understand the political context in which AMLO emerged, which may well explain why he consistently retained political support in a way no recent American or Mexican president has. There also are key similarities in the two countries' institutional barriers to strongman rule; for reasons explained in the 2013 article you read by Kurt Weyland a few weeks ago, there are other reasons why the comparison between left- and right-wing populists is problematic. If you want to take a look at a critical review of the background of AMLO from way back when he first ran for president the first time, see: Enrique Krauze, "Tropical Messiah" (The New Republic, 2006, 6pp)

• Viri Ríos, "The Real Reasons for AMLO’s Popularity" (Americas Quarterly, Dec. 2023, 3pp)

• Allison Meakem, "AMLO’s Legacy Is on the Ballot in Mexico" (Foreign Policy, 2024, 3pp)

• Vanessa Buschschlüter, "Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as first female president" (BBC, 2024, 1pp). Just note her victory margins and the extent to which she was elected as a candidate of continuity instead of change.
  

• Will Freeman, "The Hole in Mexico's Security Strategy" (Foreign Affairs, 6pp)
  

Looking ahead: Your Unit 2 test will be on Thursday, April 2. If you have OARS accomodations to address time or environment constraints, please make sure to request a room in advance. You will have the option of typing your responses to essay items in an HonorLocked environment; a couple of days before the test, please retake the BlackBoard "quiz" that verifies that HonorLock is probably going to work for you. HonorLock is frequently updated, and sometimes that process requires reinstalling the program, so you should make sure that all is working in advance even if you encountered no problems last time. If you prefer a paper version of the test, just let me know advance.