Politics and Social Change in Latin America explores Latin American political culture, the authoritarian tradition and the recent transitions to democracy. It is edited by Howard J. Wiarda, head of UGA’s international affairs department, and Margaret MacLeish Mott, professor of political theory at Marlboro College in Vermont.
This volume is aimed at challenging the easy, often biased and ethnocentric ideas about Latin America. The interpretations included here examine what the special requirements of Latin American development are, provide the historical and background materials for a better comprehension of the area, and explore the political theory, sociological processes and institutional structures by which development in Latin America takes place (or fails to take place). The book both criticizes the often inappropriate models of development and modernization based on the U.S. or northwest European experiences and begins to formulate a framework for understanding that is more attuned to the distinct traditions and processes of Latin American development.