Political Science Quarterly
Volume 114 No. 4 (Winter 1999)

 

Democratic Politics in Latin America and the Caribbean
By Jorge I. Dominguez. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999
Reviewed by Marifeli Perez Stable

 

"The record is good enough," concludes Jorge I. Dominguez (p. 214). Six previously published chapters on the Caribbean, Central America and Panama, the institutions of democracies, ideas and leaders, Mexican political culture, and Cuba in the 1990s are framed by an introduction and a conclusion written for this volume. Dominguez's critical portrait of democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean crosses the academic and political divide: students and practitioners (or aspirants) of democracy are unlikely to find a more compelling collection; Left and Right lose their traditional import as the gamut of democracy consolidates.

"Politicians talk, argue, and disagree. That is what they should do. The alternative is abuse and imposition without consultation or participation" (p. 214). Therein lies the democratic advantage: political institutions and cultures that allow for the periodical consent or rejection of leaders and goals by the citizenry. Bad as it may often be, democracy shines in comparison with other forms of government. Dominguez offers a wide spectrum of evidence from the recent past that permits a cautious optimism. Constructing democracies, not their breakdown nor their authoritarian alternatives, is his concern. The anthology itself is hopeful testimony: two decades ago democratic politics could not have served as a topical compass for essays on Latin America and the Caribbean.

The collection's strengths lie in the synthesis of the literature in view of the regional experiences. Thus, the well established theoretical and practical dictumµconstructing certainties (assurances) are imperative for key actors to risk the uncertainties (contingencies) of democraciesµfinds repeated, vigorous exposition. The Anglophone Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and the post-1978 Dominican Republic illustrate the longer-term interactions between incumbents and opponents (chapter 1). El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala offer more recent examples of the choices made by regimes and their armed oppositions to end a state of war (chapter 2). A negative case is Cuba, where under Fidel Castro's leadership, political elites have postponed their day of reckoning: bargaining for assurances so that they may entertain the possibility of yielding power (chapter 6).

Dominguez, in his words, names names: leaders matter, for better or for worse. Castro's incontestable presence undoubtedly marked the choices madeµand the alternatives discardedµas the early 1990s befell the Cuban government. Stellar statesmanshipµat least of the kind democracies needµhas surely strengthened democracy in the English-speaking Caribbean and in Puerto Rico: politicians have acknowledged defeat (the Jamaicans' Michael Manley in 1980 and Edward Seaga in 1989) or have known when to leave (Puerto Rico's Luis MunĞoz Marin in 1964). Most impressive are the technopolsµpoliticians with expertise or experts with political savvyµwho are the subject of chapter 4: Brazil's Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Argentina's Domingo Cavallo, Mexico's Pedro Aspe, and the Chileans, Evelyn Matthei and Alejandro Foxley. In varying official capacities, each has taken ideas seriously and used them to act politically in pursuit of democracy and market reforms.

Not all is well, of course. In chapter 3 (coauthored with Jeanne Kinney Giraldo), Dominguez meticulously overviews political parties, institutional reforms, and state-market relations. Many Latin Americans have shown great capacity to organize themselves peacefully to participate in politics, but constitutional government has fallen short of democracy's needs. Mexicans manifest attitudes that are far more democratic than the behavior of their leaders or the functioning of the political system (chapter 5 with James A. McCann). Corruption and poverty have remained, in some cases worsened, in the transition to open politics and freer markets. But Dominguez is right: the record is good enough to hope that democratic governance will be improved.

Marifeli Perez-Stable
State University of New York
College at Old Westbury